Following the increasing interest of history in the "writing of self", this paper examines the swimmer Maria Lenk's autobiography, with the purpose of exploring relationships between memory, identity, forgetfulness and silence. To do so, it observes the communication and representation strategies used in the narrative, as well as what is " said" and "not-said" in Maria Lenk´s testimony concerned to her participation in the Olympic Games. Some questions present in life story records are discussed in order to understand the logic that involves the building of this ambiguous feminine memory.
Maria Lenk; feminine memory; autobiographical writing; Brazilian feminine swimming; gender relations; gender conscience