Ursula (1859), Maria Firmina dos Reis

what is said or silenced in an Afro-brazilian novel

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the literary context of São Luís do Maranhão, called “Brazilian Athens”, from the beginning of the 19th century until the publication of Úrsula (1859). After this early definition of this space of Brazilian literature and translation of foreign literature, the article seeks to identify some stylistic and thematic patterns used by Maria Firmina dos Reis, establishing approximations about the origin of the diction we found in the novel, as well as about the contradiction that the female author has constructed in order to reinvent literary and linguistic intertexts in the horizon of the critique she makes about patriarchal society and slavery system. We also investigate the silencing of Maria Firmina dos Reis and Úrsula, especially in their immediate context. Although the afro-brazilian female author artfully handles the erudite stylistics of her time, her exclusion from the literary scene reveals how colonial ideologies still dominate and reveals the real validity of Enlightenment educational and cultural ideals in the period.