Em busca de novos papeis : imagens da mulher leitora no Brasil (1890-1920)

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

1997

RESUMO

The realm of several novels written between the late XIXth and early xxth centuries is made of all kinds of female readers -- whi te or brown, rich and educated or poor and ignorant. This can be observed in the work of França Júnior, Coelho Neto, Machado de Assis, Valentim Magalhães, Lima Barreto, Júlia Lopes de Almeida, Adolfo Caminho and Rachel de Queirós wor ks . Although unreal, these female readers seem to reveal the slow and tortuous path Brazilian women living between the 1890 s and the 1920 s had to follow to become readers. There had been several claims for women s education -- such as official campaigns against illiteracy and Brazilian feminist activists. Nevertheless, the history of Brazilian women s education confirms how difficult it was to build a feminine literacy audience. Brazilian women schooling becãme easier after the 1920 ,s, and as a resul t they learned to read and wri te, which is , a primary condi tion to become readers. They vere numerically more literate than previous generations, yet they still met with opposition to become readers. Institutions such as Church and family considered novels, specially the French naturalistic novels, to be harmful and dangerous for women s moral. They thought i t was their duty to avoid vomen to become "immoral" and "dissolute" and protected women from reading certains subjects. Several fictional feminine readers made of ink and paper vere created by some wri te rs during 1890/1920. These characters can be seen as metaphors of what people thought at those times: women should know enough reading and writing in order to teach their sons to read and to count. If they knew more than that, they would probably have to choose between becoming married -- women s greatest dream -- or having some intellectual life. I n other words, the fictional feminine readers created in these novels are unable to enj oy both familial and intellectual lives. Some quit the habit of reading to preserve their mar ri age. Those that keep their esteem for books, remain unmarried but are unable to live happily. Until the 1920 s a satisfactory and emancipated solution for feminine readers. made of ink and paper seems to be an impossible task. Most of them finish their stories very sadly, although their bookstands remain full of books. Only in Júlia Lopes de Almeida s (1862-1934) -- among those studiBd -- permits a feminine reader character to be able to manage husband and books. This seems to suggest a small change in Brazilian society

ASSUNTO(S)

educação feminina leitura feminismo

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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