This dissertation investigates Silviano Santiago s thought from the relationship between his life and work, taking into account the repetition of certain themes and their respective writing forms. Our work begins with Silviano s childhood in the countryside of Minas Gerais, highlighting his readings, especially the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Then, the focus moves to the critic s maturity, when he returns to Brazil to teach at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s. At that time, Silviano invests in fiction and theoretical-critical writing while incorporating the results of reading thinkers such as Jacques Derrida and Claude Lévi-Strauss into his work. He is interested in highlighting and discussing the tensions between structuralism and post-structuralism, a theme that permeates his repertoire since his research and teaching stints in French and North American institutions. Incorporating Silviano s life-writing into the investigation of his theoretical and fictional work, outlined in his cosmopolitan formation, this research aims to offer another understanding to the author s critical universe.