The purpose of this thesis is to reflect on questions relating to the autobiographical genre within the contemporary perspective of biographical studies, a perspective that has been legitimizing these discourses situated at the margins of literary canon. The object of analysis is a testament/letter and a few photographs. The 317-page document was written by Camilo Cândido de Araújo, my maternal grandfather, between September 14, 1969 and January 26, 1970, and it was addressed to his eldest son. The epistle - a memoir in content - is a legacy from a father to his son; it is a form of autobiography that, besides having been written in the final years of the authors life, played a fundamental role in his own life history. Based on this recently found material, reflections are made on matters pertinent to literature as epistolary and autobiographic writings, the necessity of writing, and memory. The relationship between the biographer and his subject is the starting point for highlighting the maternal lineage. The family photographs serve as a counterpoint to the text, as a supplement to the material in question.