MODERNIDADE E PERSONAGEM FEMININA NA CONTÍSTICA DE GUIOMAR TORRESÃO

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the representation of the female character, the governess Miss Mary, in the tale “Idílio à inglesa” (Contos Modernos), published in the collection of the same name in 1886, by Guiomar Torresão. In the Anthology of Realistic and Naturalistic Short Stories (2000), Maria Saraiva de Jesus cites Torresão’s work, highlights the book’s subtitle, “Contos Modernos”, and comments on the volume’s evidence as a “turn toward what was considered modern at the time” (De Jesus, 2000). The themes of education and profession will contribute to reflections on how the writer sought to break with the patriarchal and conservative molds imposed on women in nineteenth-century society. The disaffection of language, the comic effects, and the lack of sentimental expression of the Irish governess in “Idílio à inglesa” (Contos Modernos) will guide us as guiding elements in the discussion regarding the departure from romantic aesthetics and an intense dialogue with realism-naturalism in Guiomar Torresão’s writing.