XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Intergenerational Trauma and “Lugar de Fala” in Maria Firmina dos Reis’s Gupeva

• In Event: Pioneering Afro-Brazilian Thinkers and their Contemporary Legacies

Abstract

On September 30, 1861, Maria Firmina dos Reis’s literary work Gupeva was advertised prior to its serial publication in the newspaper O Jardim das Maranhenses as “um belíssimo e interessante romance.” What was then advertised as a novel (and by modern-day standards would be considered a short story) narrates the taboo love between Épica, a young indigenous woman, and Gastão, a French sailor, whose combined intergenerational trauma triumphs their happy ending. Over 160 years later, Reis’s Gupeva finds itself just as interesting as previously advertised when analyzing “lugar de fala,” indigenous rights, and black female authorship. This paper analyzes the representation of indigenous peoples within the work while considering Reis’s standing as a marginalized black female author writing about another marginalized group. Using Antonio Candido’s notion of nationalism in O romantismo no Brasil, I analyze the characteristics of Romantismo and Indianismo in the novel and how they compare with those of Reis’s contemporaries (e.g., José de Alencar’s Iracema [1865] and Gonçalves Dias’s I-Juca-Pirama [1851]). I conclude by discussing the differences between the various published editions of Gupeva and the enduring legacy of Maria Firmina.

Author

• Xana Furtado, Brigham Young University