Diário do Hospício / O Cemitério dos Vivos (Diary of the Hospice / Cemetery of the Living), by  Lima Barreto  brings together two touching works by Lima Barreto: Diário do Hospício (Diary of a Hospice), in which the author combines memory and reflection about life in a mental hospital where he was hospitalized for two months, and an autobiographical text, O Cemitério dos Vivos (Cemetery of the Living), an unfinished fictional novel which was conceived during the period of his stay in the asylum. In his texts, the need to understand the enigma of human life is laid bare - A vivid scene is presented, in which the 'spectacle of madness' is revealed.