Chapter 6. Politics and faith, slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazilian literature
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Jane-Marie Collins
Abstract
The first Brazilian abolitionist novel, Úrsula (1859), was written by a black woman, Maria Firmina dos Reis (1825–1917). Reis’s entire literary production was lost for over a century and discovery and recovery commenced only in the 1960s. This chapter examines Úrsula, and Reis’s short story A escrava [The slave woman] (1887). Úrsula was written in the decade following the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to Brazil in 1850, while A escrava was written on the brink of the abolition of slavery (1888) and the fall of the monarchy (1889). The analysis presented here locates Reis’s writing within the history and historiography of slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazil. Intellectually, this study also examines Reis's two texts through conventions of sentimental and Romantic writing, allowing a discursive and historical disentangling of her literary treatment of slavery and abolition. Culturally, it is argued that Reis's religious belief, as a Roman Catholic, was critical to her writing in ways that have been overlooked in the scholarship to date. Finally, it is proposed that as a descendant of enslaved Africans herself, Reis's anti-slavery writing belongs to the wider corpus of black women's writing across the Americas.
Abstract
The first Brazilian abolitionist novel, Úrsula (1859), was written by a black woman, Maria Firmina dos Reis (1825–1917). Reis’s entire literary production was lost for over a century and discovery and recovery commenced only in the 1960s. This chapter examines Úrsula, and Reis’s short story A escrava [The slave woman] (1887). Úrsula was written in the decade following the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to Brazil in 1850, while A escrava was written on the brink of the abolition of slavery (1888) and the fall of the monarchy (1889). The analysis presented here locates Reis’s writing within the history and historiography of slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazil. Intellectually, this study also examines Reis's two texts through conventions of sentimental and Romantic writing, allowing a discursive and historical disentangling of her literary treatment of slavery and abolition. Culturally, it is argued that Reis's religious belief, as a Roman Catholic, was critical to her writing in ways that have been overlooked in the scholarship to date. Finally, it is proposed that as a descendant of enslaved Africans herself, Reis's anti-slavery writing belongs to the wider corpus of black women's writing across the Americas.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- General introduction xi
- Slavery, literature and the emotions 1
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Part One. Slavery, sentiment and affect
- Chapter 1. Slavery, sentimentality and the abolition of affect 18
- Chapter 2. Race and affect in Gustave de Beaumont’s Marie, ou L’esclavage aux Etats‑Unis 34
- Chapter 3. Touching difference and colonial space 50
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Part Two. Slavery between literary codes
- Chapter 4. In search of home 78
- Chapter 5. Showing and feeling the atrocities of slavery 95
- Chapter 6. Politics and faith, slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazilian literature 110
- Chapter 7. Melodramatic tableaux vivants 136
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Part Three. Pity, identification and interpellation
- Chapter 8. Before sentimental empire 158
- Chapter 9. “No one can imagine my feelings” 173
- Chapter 10. Orientalism, slavery and emotion 191
- Chapter 11. Haunting slavery 207
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Part Four. Affective ties
- Chapter 12. Testamentary manumission and emotional bonds in eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue 226
- Chapter 13. Affection amidst domination in a post-slavery society 239
- Chapter 14. Bárbora and Jau 254
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Part Five. First-person voices
- Chapter 15. Scenes of emotion in French early-modern travel writing from the Caribbean 272
- Chapter 16. Fear and love in Matanzas 289
- Chapter 17. The blood-stained-gate 307
- Volume 1. Biographical descriptions 325
- Name index 331
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- General introduction xi
- Slavery, literature and the emotions 1
-
Part One. Slavery, sentiment and affect
- Chapter 1. Slavery, sentimentality and the abolition of affect 18
- Chapter 2. Race and affect in Gustave de Beaumont’s Marie, ou L’esclavage aux Etats‑Unis 34
- Chapter 3. Touching difference and colonial space 50
-
Part Two. Slavery between literary codes
- Chapter 4. In search of home 78
- Chapter 5. Showing and feeling the atrocities of slavery 95
- Chapter 6. Politics and faith, slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazilian literature 110
- Chapter 7. Melodramatic tableaux vivants 136
-
Part Three. Pity, identification and interpellation
- Chapter 8. Before sentimental empire 158
- Chapter 9. “No one can imagine my feelings” 173
- Chapter 10. Orientalism, slavery and emotion 191
- Chapter 11. Haunting slavery 207
-
Part Four. Affective ties
- Chapter 12. Testamentary manumission and emotional bonds in eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue 226
- Chapter 13. Affection amidst domination in a post-slavery society 239
- Chapter 14. Bárbora and Jau 254
-
Part Five. First-person voices
- Chapter 15. Scenes of emotion in French early-modern travel writing from the Caribbean 272
- Chapter 16. Fear and love in Matanzas 289
- Chapter 17. The blood-stained-gate 307
- Volume 1. Biographical descriptions 325
- Name index 331
