Entre o lar e os salões : representações do Brasil oitocentista em Senhora (1875) de José de Alencar

Abstract

In nineteenth-century Brazil, Romanticism consolidated itself as the first major literary movement of national reach as an instrument for the formation of values. During this process, the figure of José de Alencar (1829-1877) stands out, as the author is considered the greatest novelist of the Brazilian romantic movement. That said, the present work aims to investigate the intimate universe explored by José de Alencar in Senhora (1875), in order to highlight the various social aspects addressed by him – marriage, relationships of affection and forms of sociability –, and understand the symbolic and cultural dimension presented in his work. To this end, the novel will be analyzed based on the articulation between Literature, Cultural History and the History of Private Life, using, as the main theoretical basis, the conception of representation formulated by Roger Chartier (2002).