Rachers Gown and National Byword at the Tender Age of 20

Rachers Gown and national byword at the tender age of 20. Every day she received letters, telegrams, HELOISA BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA and requests for her books. To see her own picture in newspapers and magazines was no Translation/versão para o inglês: longer a surprise. When she travelled she had CHRISTOPHER PETERSON a constant troupe of admirers among lhe local intellectuals. On one occasion, as proof of his admiration, Luiz da Câmara Cascudo Easy Fame recited poetry in her honor on board. "II was Rachel's first writing was symptomatic and as if I had been elected Queen of the Pa- definitive. Having moved from the coastal geant," she later recalled of her first romance. capital of Ceará, Fortaleza, to lhe "sertão" in While Rachel was not surprised with this January of '27 and already an avid reader of breathtaking recognition, lhe same was not the daily papers, she read the news about the true for her literary godfathers. In "Uma Reve- election of the new Student Queen, journalist lação - O Quinze", published in Novidades Suzana de Alencar Guimarães. lrritated over Literárias on August 18, 1930, Schmidt, who the Queen's "feminine", pseudolyrical style was credited with having "discovered" her, (including the nom de alume "Marquise"), she explains his enthusiasm over having unveiled took pen in hand and wrote to the editor, a great, previously unknown Brazilian writer. satirizing the contest and the winning candi- Yet he observes that in lhe book he sees date. The letter, signed with a pseudonym, "nothing that even remotely reminds one of was an instant success and set off a frantic lhe pretentiousness, f utility, and falseness of search for this "Rita de Queluz". However, as our feminine literature," and openly admits always, she had left a alue. The letter had that Rachel de Queiroz might be one nome been postmarked Estação de Junco, the no- covering up for another. me of her father's ranch, and Rachel de Quei- Graciliano Ramos expressed the same doubt roz was found out and immediately invited to when he wrote about Caminho de Pedras work at the newspaper O Ceará. Rachel's lot some years later. "O Quinze cropped up in the had been cast. mid-thirties and caused greater unease in re- At age 17, while already working at O Ceará, aders' souls than José Américo's novel, be- she published História de Um Nome, a serial cause it was a book written by a woman, and novel, wrote the play Minha prima Nazaré, what really troubled people was that it was by participated in literary journals, and tried her a young woman at that. Could it really have luck at poetry. In 1929 she wrote her first novel, been by a woman? I myself didn't believe it. O Quinze (years later translated into French by Having read the title and seen the photo- the Stock publishing house - L'année de la graph in the newspaper. I shook my head: grande sécheresse; German - Dasjahr '15; and There is no one with such a name. It's all just Japanese), which was a major success even a joke. A young girl like that writing a novel! beyond the loorders of her home state, Ceará. It must be a pen nome for some bearded Augusto Frederico Schmidt and Alceu Amoro- fellow." so Lima in Rio and Artur Mota in São Paulo A self-possessed Rachel paia no heed to the enthusiastically lauded her literary debut. anguish her work caused in male hearts. Rat- Rachel had at once become a public figure her, she sent lhe novel to a list of a hundred

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 187 N 0/92 critics and writers, including the then-contro- historical obstacles raised to women's profes- versial Graça Aranha, who was defending sional recognition, particularly in the first half the new modernist winds then sweeping of the century, I chose her triumph over Article across the Brazilian arts in open defiance of 2 of the founding Statutes of the Brazilian Aca- the Brazilian Academy of Letters. demy of Letters, which determined that "only In March 1931, the Graça Aranha Foundation native Brazilians [brasileiros natos] can be awarded prizes for the first time: Murilo Men- members of the Academy." The orthodox in- des won the poetry class, Cícero Dias pain- terpretation of this sentence by members of ting, and Rachel de Queiroz the novel class. the Academy defied even the most elemen- At the time of his sudden death, Graça Ara- tary rules of grammar when it defined the nha was sitting reading O Quinze. Several plural "brasileiros" as not including the combi- years later in the Graça Aranha Museum, this nation of female Brazilians [brasileiras] and scene was reconstructed: O Quinze is open to male ones [brasileiros]. page 32, resting on the arm of the chair where the writer died. La Grammaire a Son Mystere (a neces- After Rachel won this prize, the novel was sary digression) hotly disputed by publishers who wanted to The controversy concerning the presence of print the second edition. Rachel chose Edito- women in the Brazilian Academy of Letters ra Nacional. Today, O Quinze, written when was nothing new, however. It is known that Rachel was 19, is in its 48th edition, has been during the preparatory meetings for the foun- read by over 100,000 people, and is unani- ding of the Academy, Lucio de Mendonça, mously considered a classic in the history of acknowledged to be the true founder, was in Brazilian literature. favor of having women in the membership, Rachel says of this instanta neous success: "The and he made his position explicit in an article book just exploded on the scene. But this was to the Estado de São Paulo. In addition, good, because I have always had my head Lopes de Almeida, a well-known, respected in the right place, I nevar let myself get carried novelist, was seriously considered for admit- away by ali that noise. I was a Communist, tance by the founders. BesidesJúlia Lopes de and deep down inside what I really wanted Almeida, another woman writer who was was to destroy that entire society, including considered for the Academy's list of founders the Editora Nacional." was Francisca Júlio'. However, the idea was Forty-eight years Jatar, on November 4, 1977, voted down by the conservative majority of Rachel de Queiroz, author of five novels, two participants in the preliminary meetings. Ins- plays, and eight books of short stories, with tead of Dona Júlia, then the first lady of our translations in English, French, German, Polish, literature, the Academy admitted her hus- and Japanese, having collaborated regularly band Filinto, who wrote verses of debatable with the press for 50 years and translated 47 value and who was not even a "nativa Brazi- books, was admitted to the Brazilian Aca- lian", but who displayed a criticai sense of demy of Letters to take seat number five, humor by taking the self-ascribed titia of "con- founded by Raimundo Correia. sort member"' . She was the first woman to be admitted to the They say that Dona Júlia, like her contempo- Academy. The world will nevar really know rary women writers, declined to protest either whether the huge national celebration that due to her extreme modesty or beca use she surrounded this event was because of wo- preferred such an honor to go to her husband. men's definitiva victory in breaking into one of A prudent stance, to say the least. At the time, the strictest bastions of Brazilian cultura or women were rarely allowed to enter concerts whether it was just one more of Rachel's "na- and other public events (and even then tural", offhand accomplishments. through the back door) as proven by the I think one can dare make some guesses as statutes of the Beethoven Club, where Ma- to which version is correct. chado de Assis WCIS a member of the board Among the several fields of observation that of directors. Women were ridiculed when they emerge in the enigmatic crossroads of Ra- went so for as to practice liberal professions, chel's singular professional career and the an example of which can be read in the play

ANO O 1 88 2 9 SEM ESTRE As Doutoras, by male Academician França men'ssuffrage. The Brazilian Feminist Crusade Jr., presented in 1889. No doubt as a way of was founded in Recife to struggle for such acknowledging Dona Júlia's "expertise" as political rights, and it joined voices with the the "shadow behind seat number 3", after she Brazilian Federation for Feminine Progress, died the Academy went to great lengths to founded by Berta Lutz In Rio de Janeiro in pay tribute to hei "enormous literary merit". 1922. It was in this context that Academy Special sessions in praise and memory of Do- President Dr. Aloysio de Castro requested that na Júlia's work were part of the Academy's the Academy members take a position as to yearly activities until Filinto himself died in the criteria for judging Dona Amélia's admis- 1945. II was as if Dona JUlia's presence in seat sibility. Those in favor included Augusto de number 3 was considered visible and legiti- Lima, Adelmar Tavares, Luis Carlos, Affonso mate as long as it was occupied by the "con- Celso, Fernando Magalhães, João Ribeiro, sort member". Such yearly homage included Laudelino Freire, Magalhães de Azeredo, Fé- sorrowful references to "the prejudice that lix Pacheco (who publicly deciared his sup- kept her out of the Academy" 2 and to the port for female membership in the Academy), recitais by the "Clube das Vitórias Régias" [an and of course Clóvis Belilacqua, Amélia's hus- early 20th-century Brazilian women's literary band. In other words, a !Mie over a quarter of guild] where lhe most outstanding members the membership was in favor. The rest were of the feminine intellectual and artistic world" against, and the stance taken by two mem- took the numbered seats at the Academy bers, Alberto de Oliveira and Silva Ramos, and recited Dona Júlia's writing, going so tal carried considerable weight. They pointed as to raise a bust to her, "our greatest woman out that the issue had been discussed during novelist". A mourning Filinto, in turn, left 100 the founding of the Academy and that it had thousand cruzeiros in his will to establish a been decided that women were not to be "Júlio Lopes de Almeida Prize" to be awarded admitted as members3. Those who voted by the Academy to outstanding women no- against were Aloysio de Castro, Gustavo Barro- velists. Dona JUlia thus ended up achieving so, Olegário Mariano, Afrânio Peixoto, Alberto inside-out immortality, playing back seat to de Oliveira, Coelho Netto, Constância Alves, chair number 3. Dantas Barreto, Goulart de Andrade, Humber- Thirty years after JUlia Lopes de Almeida had to de Campos, Luis Guimarães Filho, Ramiz been refused as a founding member of the Gaivão, Roquette-Pinto, and Silva Ramos. Academy, a woman of letters, poet Amélia Laudelino Freire was not convinced, and du- Bevilacqua, wife of Academy member and ring the July 24, 1930, session he accused the jurist Clóvis Bevilacqua, submitted a request Academy of "stubbornly resisting irrefutable to Academy President Dr. Aloysio de Castro arguments". He proposed that the ssue be to be a warded Alfredo Pujol's seat (as attes- reconsidered, based on both its inherent im- ted in the acts of the May 29, 1930 meeting), portance and the irregular way it had been a place with a lineage of the highest arder, dealt with during the preliminary discussion on having had Machado de Assis as founder and May 29. Under the statutes, a case like this José de Alencar as patron. required a vote by at least 21 members in a Since this was the first time a woman had vied previously announced session. He suggested for a seat in the Academy, the President did that the chairman send each and every Aca- not feel he was a uthorized to interpret Article demy member the following question along 2 of the Statutes, and he asked the plenary to with a request for a written answer within 60 manifest its opinion. The time was certainly days: "Does the word "brasileiros" in Article 2 of ripe for the debate sparked by Amélia Bevi- the Statutes include women Brazilian writers?" lacqua's candidacy. Inspite of disagreement The Brazilian Academy of Letters was thus con- from conservative wings of society, women's ducting the debate over women's admissibility participation was broadening considerably. to literary immortality as if it were an essentialIy Amélia Bevilacqua's noisy 1930 campaign for grammatical question. it wasinsensitive to Cló- a seat in the Academy was unavoidably in vis Bevilacqua as he invoked the Academy's tune with an entire platform of struggles and responsibility as ultimato authority over the Dic- claims, the main banner of which was wo- tionary of the Portuguesa Language.

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 1 89 N. 0/92 In 1930, Otávio Mangabeira was given the gesture of extraordinary chivalry: "Our literary seat Dona Amélia had vied for. guild does not have enough seats to hold Unlike Dona Júlio, Dona Amélia decided to such boundless merits," Beyond this, it oscilla- challenge the Academy to a broad public tes between a visible misogyny - challenging debate, lhe final act of which was lhe publi- "this odd feminism, which fails to counsel wo- cation of the book A Academia Brasileira de men in favor of such an initiative [founding Letras e Amélia Bevilacqua, which the author their own Academy], whereby instead of es- defined as a historical and literary document. tablishing a work of their own that would pro- The materiais presented in the book, including ve their autonomy and lhe efficacy of their interviews, newspa per articles, and papers by efforts, they make an issue of dwelling in a the author in detens° of hei candaacy, give house that they did not build." - and a certain one an idea of how hot a political and gram- kind of panic, as suggested by Constância matical debate Dona Amélia's aspirations Alves' final speech: "Pay heed to these words, and provocations had sparked in the Aca- illustrious colleagues. What troubles might lhe demy. The book shows how Dona Amélia ma- future not hold if you had to vote on f emale naged to mobilize educated public opinion candidates? Defeated men are capable of in Brazil concerning the orthodox and contra- pardoning, and if they were not, little would it dictory use of lhe word "brasileiros" in Article 2 matter. Yet can we be indifferent to lhe dis- of the Academy's Statutes. Considering that satisfaction of a defeated woman? Not at ali. lhe Academy was the normative institution for Thus I say to you: do not allow Discord to reign the national language, she at lhe very least in this house as it did with Paris and ali that had succeeded in denouncing what was "an disgrace. Let it not, making use of a cell in lhe unpleasant mistake that cannot be allowed Academy, repeat what it has achieved with to prevail for long." as Felix Pacheco put it at damned Apple. Let us be prudent like Rosny. lhe height of the debate. As is fair, lei us admire ali women of letters, but However, it was Constância Alves, radically let us not vote for any of them, Ahl non, pas against temei° membership, who was to lay ca," Carlos de Laet was less chivalrous and bare the grammatical enigma that ha d more pragmatic when he argued some time been raised by Dona Amélia's candidacy. later, "We really should let them in, because He stated lhe following in justifying his vote: they bring their 'seats' along with them." "Those who defend female candidates base Still, lhe press was emphatically in favor of their arguments on a modern (?!) interpreta- Amélia's candidacy. In lhe article "Resoluçao tion of lhe Constitution by which they de- Anacrônica" published in lhe May 31, 1930, mond suffrage and other political rights for edition of Jornal do Brasil, J.H. de Sá Leitão women." In another article in lhe Revista da satirized lhe controversy like this: "Ali manner Academia, lhe same author ta kes an even of cerebral effort is useless in understanding more radical position: "This same sophism such subtlety: 'mon ôme a son secret, ma provides lhe underpinnings for feminist poli- grammaire a son mystère.' I give you access tical ambitions. The use of the word 'brasilei- to lhe greatest of adventures, yet deny it for ros' in lhe Constitution was not lhe same as literary immortality. Such is not an elegant in our Statutes...: [in lhe Constitution] they solution. In addition to not being chivalrous, it forgot to dot lhe is...... gets bogged down in ingrained illogic. Lei us The debate that determined "The Ineligibility call on lhe Academy's statutes to take' a of Ladies to lhe Brazilian Academy" as publish- breath of fresh air and face up to lhe issue of ed in lhe August 1930 issue of lhe Revista da feminism, among other reasons for lhe good Academia Brasileira de Letras was certainly a its poets have said about women in lhe chap- broad, unconstrained one, since it even reter- ter on charm and fancy." red to lhe jurisprudence used in lhe Academy Another article, published in Jornal do Brasil of Letters founded by Mussolini. II quoted lhe on June 5, 1930, reads ke this: history of Catholicism, "an infinito parede of "By ruling against lhe entry of women into the marvelous feminino figures who walk up tolhe Petit Trianon, lhe Academy of Letters has altars but cannot celebra te mass or give con- struck a terrible blow against feminism, inclu- fession to anyone," and concluded with a ding its major political intentions. II unwittingly

ANO O 1 90 2 Q SEMESTRE provided important arguments for interple- of votes, with 23 in her favor. Her competitor, ting our basic law, the Constitution.... Pontes Miranda, gol 15 votes. There was one "Indeed, lhe defense of women's political blank vote, and among lhe 39 members, 13 rights is based on precisely the same term. sent their votes in through the mail. Those who Those of us who defend women's suffrage voted openly for Rachel were Adonias Filho, believe that the term 'brasileiros' as used in Francisco de Assis Barbosa, Herberto Sales, ou r Magna Charta refers to ali individuais, José Cândido de Carvalho, Mauro Mota, Mi- regardless of their sex. Our most erudite insti- guel Reale, Odylo Costa Filho, Austregesilo de tution, which is preparing a dictionary, a com- Athayde, and Lyra Tavares, "who was against plete philological guide, has taken lhe oppo- women's membership, but who voted for Ra- site position. There is no doubt that this has chel". Those who voted against her were Bar- been a terrible blow." bosa Lima Sobrinho, Elmano Cardim, Pedro Although the debate over Amélia Bevilac- Calmon, and Viana Moog. qua's candidacy turned out to be explicitly Once Rachel de Queiroz had been elected political and anti-feminist, one detail cais and the grammatical controversy over wo- our atter-111°n: lhe Academy members' con- men' s membership in lhe Academy had ap- cern over a no leSs grammatical problem: parently been settled, a pending issue kept now to conjugate the masculino word "for- feeding certain basic anxieties in lhe Petit dão" [robe] in lhe feminine? As we shall see Trianon: What uniform could Rachel use that below, it was Rachel de Queiroz who soived would be compatible with the heroic symbo- this problem. lism expressed by the men's swords and the lhe idea of a feminine robe was of particular laurels on their robes? President Austregesilo concern to President Aloysio de Castro and de Athayde was apparently unaw are of lhe to poets Alberto de Oliveira and Olegário revolution promoted by Mary Quant, one of Mariano. The latter wrote in Diário de Noticias the spearheads of lhe behavioral protests of about how dumbfounded he was over the lhe previous decade, when he confirmed to possibility of a victory by Dona Amélia, and his the press how relevant the issue was for the fantasies were divided between nuns and Academy: "The presence of a woman in our geishas: "What kind of uniform will we invent sessions won't change anything. The only for her? A habit ar a Japanese kimono?" thing that will change is lhe uniform." On April 29, 1976, Oswaldo Orico, moved by Thus it was that lhe "House of Machado de Dinah Silveira de Queiroz's campaign in favor Assis" played stage to one of the most curious of female membership in the Academy, pre- debates of the late 1970s, with ali the slips of sented a proposal for an ammendment to the tongue that psychology in print allowed us. Statutes. The main change referred to Article The traditional five o'clock tea became a 17: "This proposal intends to give ali Brazilians fashion arena, In lhe search for lhe appropria- lhe same opportunity, which has been de- te uniform for Rachel, heated discussions ac- nied by a conflicting measure in the Statutes, companied fashion showings by Guilherme which do not prevent women from enrolling Guimarães of the Mônaco Boutique and Silvia in the election process for a chair in the Aca- Souza Dantas, the ultimate winner of this se- demy." A taboo that had stood for eighty cond, hotly-contested round. "In principie, ali years had finally fallen. lhe doors of the Aca- attempts were mode to imitate lhe male ro- demy were now open to women writers. Di- be, and only the slacks were replaced with a narr, who stated that she was struggling for ali skirt. lhe writer was horrified by lhe idea of women (and not just herself) to enter lhe lace and a tailleur with braids and epau- Academy, took up lhe defense of Rachel de lets...," according to Silvia Souza Dantas. Queiroz's candidacy. lhe press followed every last detail of this work. lhe Jornal da Bahia wrote on Septem- Rachel's Gown ber 29, 1977: "lhe most picturesque event at lhe following year, in July 1977, Rachel senta lhe House of Machado de Assis will certainly letter to the Academy in which she deciared not be lhe arrival of a woman to talk with the herself candidate for vacant seat number 5. 'immortals' but lhe special meeting that vias On August 5, she was elected in lhe first round held a few days ago at the Academy to

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 91 N 0/92 approve the blueprints for the toilette." robe was the gold oakleaf embroidery dona In the dozens of articles that appeared in the by the Academy embroiderers on Rua do newspapers on the uniform that Rachel was Senado. expected to wear (including stacks of letters The September 4 1977 issue of Correio Brazi- from readers), it was olear that the Academy liense informed the public that "Rachel's f ull- members had ensured themselves the last length gown consumed 13 meters of crepe word in this difficult decision. "During the last and 3 meters of linen. Her necklace, a present tive o'clock teci, Pedro Calmon - who had from the Governar of Ceará, is solid gola, a been notoriously contrary to the admittance departure from the men's medallions, made of women into the House of Machado de Assis of gold-plated silver." However, this potential - raised a proposal that was considered vin- advantage was offset by the cost of her full- dictive, that the Academy produce several length gown. As social columnist lbraim Sued patterns so that the members could choose pointed out in O Globo on October 23, 1977, the uniform Rachel was supposed to wear." "Women are already a savings for the Aca- (O Liberal, Belém, September 6, 1977) demy, since a man's robe costs 60 thousand Academy President Austregesilo de Athayde cruzeiros and a woman's gown only 11 thou- was much more liberal in suggesting to Ra- sand. Neat." This argument does not seem to chel herself that she come up with some ideas have convinced socialite Tereza de Souza for her robe. However, as he deciared to the Campos, who maliciously asked the writer São Paulo newspaper Diário Popular on Sep- how many hungry children from Rachel's na- tember 9, "in order to avoid stylish fantasies, tive Brazilian Northeast could be fed with the the Academy plenary itself will have the final money spent on her controversial gown, thus vote on the uniform she is to wear." taking revenge for a similar challenge Rachel Meanwhile, Rachel was barraged with opi- had anca raised to high society in the Rio de nions: the list included a toreador's bolero, Janeiro newspapers. epaulets, braids, and even a processional ca- There was consensus on one point, however. pe, proposed by members of the "Irmandade "The sword, a symbol of fidelity to the institu- do Outeiro" [Brotherhood of the Knolll. It was tion, will not be necessary." Ultima Hora, on a heyday for Freud and Lacan. Embarrassed, September 4, 1977, wrote: "Rachel de Queiroz Rachel de Queiroz tried to ease her new col- is on the side of women and is not backing leagues' qualms: "They're making a big deal down. She is about to take her seat in the out of this business of my uniform. My dresses Academy thanks to a woman's work, with a are ali shifts. They're ali cut out of the same woman's body, and with a woman's dress, pattern, I don't dress, I cover myself," she de- She has a precedent in terms of jurispruden- clared rather worriedly to O Globo on Octo- ce: Joan of Arc bote no sword," ber 9, 1977. According to the press, the writer ended up deciding by herself and turning The lnvestiture deaf ears to the suggestions for boleros (too Finally, on November 4, 1977, safe and sound, impractical) and capes (too liturgical). Her Rachel de Queiroz, wearing a discreet, ele- only demand was that the robe be saber. gant gown despite male Academic toste, Preferring not to mention the names of the took her seat at the Brazilian Academy of illustrious academicians that had made sug- Letters. AsJornal do Brasil reported, beginning gestions on such a nerve end, she explained at seven in the morning Rachel was flooded her option for sobriety as a "natural" feminine with telephone calls, visits, and curiosity see- one, since "f emales of ali animal species are kers and had to take refuge at her sister Maria less ornate than males. So I just followed the Luiza's home. The president of the Academy rule." (Jornal do Brasil, November 4, 1977). in turn ensured the press that "the investiture The final version approved by stylist Silvia Sou- of the first woman member of the Academy za Dantas was in her words "a simple gown, will take placa at nine PM today according to like Rachel, in Academie green, long, straight, the 'standard, immutable ritual', and no lau- with a V-shaped neckline and bell-bottom datory speeches by women poets will be al- sleeves." (Jornal do Comércio, October 29, lowed." 1977) The only carry-over from the old male To this day, no immortal has been as warmly

ANO O 1 92 2° SEMESTRE welcomed as Rachel de Queiroz, and for the Fiam samba to soccer, including politics, Ra- first time in 80 years the inaugural ceremony chel's investiture had acquired an air of na- took on the air of a popular demonstration. tional triumph. On the day after the cere- "The Portela Samba School wanted to pay mony, the headlines in Ultima Hora read: "Ra- homage to the first woman to enter the Brazi- chel's Inauguration a Demonstration: Public lian Academy of Letters, but they were refu- Overrides Red Tape", lhe feminists did not sed by President Austregesilo de Athayde on even feel left out ar upset when the newly the grounds that it was a formal ceremony invested academician spoke critically of their and therefore was incompatible with the movement, "They were ali happy because it samba school's carnivalesque presence. So was the first time a woman had entered the the school decided to pay its tribute to hei Academy. There was no controversy to it," outside the Academy, right in the middle of Rachel recalled later. Avenida Presidente Wilson," wrote social co- Still, it was no accident that in 1930 and 1977, lumnist Zázimo on September 15, 1977, two decisiva moments for the country's politi- Since it was raining, however, Portela was not cal history - the beginning of the revolution able to hold the parede it had promised and that led Getúlio Vargas to power and the inaugurate their "Academicians Wing". This beginning of the process of political disten- disappointment was compensated for by the sion that put an end to the military dictators- parades by samba schools ali over Ceará. In hip - the issue of women's rights had been the town of Creta, samba groups were for- raised in such an avoidable and ai the same med with motifs taken from Rachel's books, time delicate way. Considering just the Aca- reproduced in huge styrofoam sculptures. demy reactions and the local political ther- Soccer, a particularly important sport during mometer, one can observe both the path- this period of authoritarian government in Bra- ways and detours that Amélia Bevilacqua zil (characterized by the slogan "Brazil: Lave it and Rachel de Queiroz took on their march or Leave ir), was also on the agenda for to literary immortality. One first proviso that celebration of Rachel's triumph. The Jornal must be menti oned is the difficulty in drawing dos Sports, in its September 21 edition, remin- a parallel between Amélia and Rachel. ded its readers that "Iong before she became Dona Amélia fought a public fight with the a literary immortal and rose to Academy Academy that ended up estranging hei hus- membership, Rachel, an enthusiastic Vasco band Clóvis Bevilacqua fiam his fellow aca- da Gama fan, had been named team Cardi- demicians, since he wanted (ar was convin- nal by Nelson Rodrigues and was thus a Vasco ced) to impose his wife's candidacy on his pontiff". The Vasco da Gama soccer club had colleagues. Her campaign was considered a even tried to provida Rachel with her inaugu- banner by both the press and feminist groups, ral uniform. and Academy members considered it extre- Congressmen. Senators, mayors, and city mely irritating and even aggressive. Many councilmen ali paid tribute to the writer. Mau- academicians questioned the literary quality ro Benevides, Senator from Ceará by the ex- of Amélia's work, but the discussion centered tinct MDB [Brazilian Democratic Movement - around lhe "unpleasant mistake" contained in opposition] party, spoke on the history of her Article 2 of lhe Academy's statutes. lite and work in the Brazilian Congress. Spee- lhe fact is that Amélia ended up losing lhe ches by Senators Franco Montoro (São Pau- prestige she had acquired with hei various lo), Benjamin Fatah (Rio deJaneiro), and Age- publications and Silvio Romero's praise for her nor Maria (Rio Grande do Norte) of the MDB book Provocações e Debates and even ca- and Magalhães Pinto and Benedito Ferreira me to be considered a bizarre figure with a of the Arena [National Renewal Alliance - reputation for being off balance ar even pro-government] added to the tribute. During crazy. the Senate's November 7 session, the assistant While Dona Amélia was raising a ruckus with leader of the government party, Ruy Santos hei candidacy at the Academy, Rachel de (Arena, Bahia), gave a speech on Racheis Queiroz, who was already a nationally re- inauguration in celebration of hei triumph as knowned writer, wasmeeting ai' the Praça do "a milestone for Brazilian civilization". Ferreira in Fortaleza with a group of activists,

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS j 93 N 0/92 workers, and intellectuals, planning the Com- year, competing for Aníbal Freyre's seat, ba- munist Party of Ceará, of which she was a seia on a legal opinion submitted by Vicente founding member. An impassioned militant of Raoshowing that the prohibition of women as the social cause, she never took interest in members was discriminatory and unconstitu- feminist struggles, nor did she ta ke part in the tional. Dinah insisted for a third time in 1971 demand for women's suffrage. without success, trying for Clementina Fragas Women and the Communist Party seemed placa It is said that President Austregesilo irreconcilable to Rachel. The politics of the Athayd e declared, "lhe day Dina h enters that masses that the Communists were defending doar [to the Academy] will be the same day in opposi•tion to the government seemed in- I leave by the other." At the height of this compatible with the feminist movements of discussion in 1971, Rachel wassounded out by the time. The latter identified with Vargas' Odilo Costa Filho about the possibility of hei politics and according to Rachel were dea- becoming a candidate. Rachel's answer: "I ling with the issue of women's suffrage in an am not a candidate to the Academy, and elitist, segregated way, linked with "minuscule even if I wanted to be, I could not. To even conservative groups". In addition to hei olear think of this is forbidden. It's a sin, and a wo- political divergence, Rachei' s aversion to the man of my age cannot sin." (Zero Hora, Rio feminists expressed her literary and artistic re- Grande do Sul, August 6, 1977). servations about them. For the young woman it was only in 1980, on her second attempt "who wrote like a man", the militant feminist after Rachel had entered the Academy, that writers, including Dona Amélia Bevilocqua, Dinah succeeded in becoming a literary im- represented a stuffy old "syrupy" style without mortal, defeating Gustavo Capanema. Rai- the necessary literary punch. Rachel, on the mundo Magalhães Jr.'s welcoming speech contrary, fascinated by Macunarma, was alo- was olear in characterizing her investiture as ne among women writers of the time in see- the consolidation of women's presence in the king to absorb modernist progress. Using hei Academy. Dinah herself acknowledged this rare literary discipline, she developed a kind in her declaration to the press: "Rachel's pre- of language that was adverse to ornamental sence in the Academy might have been like impulses, grounded more in nouns than in a symbol. lhe feminine side of the Academy adjectives, shirking not only the literary stand- would have been just she alone, and no wo- ards of the time but mainly what she conside- man writer, no matter how good she was, red "feminino literature". Unlike the majority of could have crossed the threshold to immorta- her militant feminist contemporaries, her no- lity as she had. My membership was like a vels pictured the strongest and most revolu- relief: the taboo had been broken." This opi- tionary female characters of the time and nion was not totaIly devoid of meaning, since raised issues like women's professional trai- Dona Carmen herself, the Academy secre- ning, constraints of marriage, sexual freedom, tary and a person who was familiar with ali the and even abortion, in what was the best fe- backstage gossip, reported that the day Ra- minist style of the time. Let us say she practi- chel was admitted, the men had commented ced an individual form of feminism, stradling off the record: "She was the last, not the first." the more general social issue and hei horror The fact is that "Rachel's style" together with of the circumscribed world of domestic space her indisputable prominence in the Brazilian reserved for women and women writers, world of letters (at a time when the Statutes Amelia's attitude during her polemicai candi- declared that women were ineligible for dacy was closer to that of Dinah Silveira de membership) were extremely appropriate for Queiroz. The latter, having received the Ma- smoothing this very difficult rife of passage. chado de Assis Prize in 1954, began to se- Still, although Rachel used her enviable ability riously consider conquering literary immorta- to insist on declaring herself non-feminist and litythrough membership in the Academy, and anarchist, so that her victory escaped possi- for 25 years struggled obstinately for women ble political and/or feminist appropriation, to be admitted. In July 1970 she declared hei she did not manage to keep hei entry into the candidacy for the seat left by Alvaro Lins. She institution from having certain such repercus- became a candidate for a second time that sions. In 1966, Rachel had been nominated by

ANO O 1 94 2 Q SEMESTRE dictator Castelo Branco to the Brazilian dele- and institutionalization as a reflection of the gation to the UN General Assembly, and since expansion of worldwide feminist movements, 1967 she had been part of the Federal Cultu- there was an air of euphoric triumph for wo- ral Council under a government that was qui- men over the fali of the most traditional mele te unpopular among the leftist intellectuals. oligarchy in the country: the Brazilian Aca- lhe press thus received her as both the first demy of Letters. lhe newspapers were full of woman to enter the Petit Trianon and repre- declarations like, "The majority of the mem- sentativo of an undesirable political sector. bers considered Rachel de Queiroz's victory President Geisel sent Rachel a congratulatory a milestone in the Academy's history," "This telegrarn saying that he was one of her loyal victory could mean greater respect for wo- readers, to which the writer responded ele- men's literature," and "Rachel de Queiroz gantly, acknowledging his ability as "a firm- opened the way and managed to break handed helmsman in these troubled waters through the discriminatory blockade in the the world is sailing through", and this exchan- illustrious House of Machado de Assis," along ge was reproduced by literally ali of the with a surprising amount of anachronical an- country's newspapers. Oswaldo Orico, the ti-feminist tirades and violent attacks against very a uthor of the ammendment to the Aca- the movement, one that for obvious reasons demy's statutes, did not show up for the elec- was not supported by the majority of the po- tion and considered her victory "the effect of pulation. outside pressure, mainly from the Federal Cul- What was believed to be Rachel's anti-femi- tural Council." (Jornal de Santa Catarina, Au- nism began to be blown up and exploited by gust 6, 1977). "lhe victor was nota woman but 'lhe media. I will quote just a few of lhe gems a government agency," accused the defea- that appeared in the press: "Rachel de Quei- ted candidate, former Ambassador Pontes roz will be sworn in today as member of the de Miranda, in a show of lack of elegan- Academy of Letters. The hotheaded feminists ce.(Jornal de Santa Catarina, August 6, 1977). were quick to turn her into a symbol for the The Left was split and preferred not to cele- Women's Lib Movement, a proposal that has brote the fact as a feminist triumph but as a a lot in common with the Portella Mission, with political game in which the main beneficiary just one difference: while the leader of the was the government itself. Like a preview to Senate wants to talk politics, ali the women what was to become the famous controvery are interested in is sex." "Rachel de Queiroz raised the following year by film director Cacá has nothing to do with feminism. She has not Diegues, who denounced the so-called given in to permissiveness, has not appeared "Ideological Patrols", the debate heated up in In a loincloth, has not walked around with her declarations by Alceu Amoroso Lima, one of breasts showing, has never used the word the most prominent liberal leaders in defense fulfillment, hes not signed imbecile manifes- of civil rights in the post-'64 period. He called tos, has not adhered to the schemes of either the accusations against Rachel unfounded the Left or the Right, and I doubt very much if and publicly confirmed his vote for "Brazil's she has ever entered an analyst's office. Ra- greatest woman writer" in his article "Ideologi- chel de Queiroz knows how to sew, to cook, cal Hydrophobia", published on August 14 in to make rice and beans. Contrary to what Ultima Hora, in which he reconfirmed the me- some fools may think, Rachel de Queiroz is rit and fairness of Rachel's election and poin- entering lhe Brazilian Academy of Letters on ted out ironically how fragile the literary im- her own merits and because she is a true mortais' swords were in upholding the Geisel woman!"(Raul Giudicelli, Ultima Hora, Novem- government. ber 4, 19)7). On the other hand, inspite of Rachel's insistent And of course there was the usual witch-hun- public declarations that she had entered the ting tirade referring to Betty Friedmann, as Academy "exclusively as a woman of letters" Estado de Minas and Correio Braziliense attes- and that she would "defend membership for ted: "lhe glory of this victory belongs to a great writers, not only women", there is no woman who does not live by Betty Fried- doubt that at a time when the feminist move- mann's prayer book." ment was undergoing considerable growth For the time being I will postpone any evolua-

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 1 95 N 0/92 tion on the relationships between Rachel, fe- aware of lhe impasse, ordered that the lord minism, and post-1964 politics. However, I members of the Academy be conceded 40 would just like to observe that criticsin general "fauteuils". This was lhe origin of lhe Academie and feminist critics in particular have been seat's "objective" prestige. The seat is like a extraordinarily timid in approaching not only little throne4 . As such, it can only be passed the possible meanings in these issues but also down or at worst usurped. In lhe beginning, a more detailed analysis of lhe life, persona- seats were passed down through lhe sponta- lity, and work of our greatest modernist wo- neous designation of new members by old man writer. ones. However, in 1713 a new impasse arose when Lamoignon turned down lhe Aca- On How Rachel Trod the Carpet in the demy'sinvitation to join, showing how sensible House of Machado de Assis it would be if entry into lhe Academy were As lhe first woman to enter lhe Academy, preceded by an official request on lhe can- having first deciphered lhe enigma of lhe didate's part. As was said in lhe French Aca- robe, how did Rachel translate into the temi- demy, "Like a decent matron, the Academy nine gender such clearly patrilinear traits as does not offer itself, nor does it concede a the passing-down of Academie cultural patri- daughter's hand - pardon, lhe possession of mony? a seat - without lhe manifest desire of someo- II would be worthwhile to recai] that occup- ne who wants to possess it, without a formal ying a seat in lhe Academy of Letters is no request." Thus was established lhe practice of easy matter. The inaugural ceremony, like lhe lhe candidate submitting a letter, in which he praxis of procedures that precedes it, de- asks lhe President to enroll him to compete for mands of the candidate a long and liturgical lhe vacant seat, a custom which was later "initiation" process made up of trials of humi- broadened and perfected by sending tele- lity, virtue, and personal merit, If successful, grams to lhe olhei members. lhe candidate the future academician is ready to be recei- is then ready to begin the long and winding ved into the House as a legitimate heir to its road of "visits" to his future colleagues, taking lineage and tradition, of which he becomes copies of his own books, presents, delicacies, guardian and transmitter from that moment flowers, and of course requests for votes. onward. Thus, let us see how Rachel stood in Word has it that Rachel changed lhe rules of this complex and conspicuously masculine lhe game a little even in this preliminary pha- ritual. se. After delivering hei letter of candidacy to In the first session atter the death of an Aca- lhe President (at lhe insistence of Adonias demy member, lhe President formally decla- Filho, according to her), she travelled to Cea- res the seat vacant and enrollment open for rá and only come back when it was time for potential candidates during the next three lhe vote, thus escaping lhe "Iria!" of visits, lhe months. Within four months time the seat is required exoreis° of humility and submission to occupied again. her future peers. Even so, when she arrived In addition, each seat has a very specific from lhe "sertão" she passed lhe test with no meaning and symbolism. great difficulty. According to tradition, in Louis XIV's court, Once a candidate has been elected, lhe only lhe great noblemen and prelates had inaugural ceremony is scheduled during lhe right to sit in "fauteuils", the only exception which he is to be received by his new peers, being that mede for lhe President of lhe gives lhe traditional acceptance speech, French Academy of Letters, who had also signs the Academy book with Machado de been conceded this privilege. But writer La Assis' gold pen, and receives lhe diploma, Monnoye's candidacy in 1703 raised a serious medallion, and sword, thus completing lhe problem. His election tolhe Academy hinged ritual of Academie consecration. on lhe vote of one of the members, the Car- lhe custom of a solemn public speech dates dinal d'Estrées, who had become Prince of from 1673, with Flechier's investiture. lhe new the Church and thus had the right to a "[ou- member humbly approaches the members of teu!!" in the King's Court and who thus refused lhe government and lhe Academy, speaks of to sit on a simple plebeian's stool. Louis XIV, his predecessor and then listens to praise of

ANO O 1 96 2 e SEMESTRE himself by one of the members of the House. his predecessors lineage, thus proving himself In the Brazilian case we find an extremely a "legitimate heir" to this "trunk" or "place" in curious variant to this ritual. In the French Aca- literature, or through the 'mis-e-scene" of lhe demy, the "fauteuils" are not numbered, nor reception by an already invested member, do they have patrons. What was new in our explains a little of the system which defines the Academy was that when Machado de Assis processes of literary legitimation. Given this gave the inaugural speech in 1896 5, "to con- logic, lhe exclusion of women does not ap- serve national literary unity in the Political Fe- pear to have been merely an issue of gram- deration" and to maintain "tradition as its first mar or fashion. desire", he and his colleagues realized that considering how young our national culture The Legacy of Patrimony, or the Usual was it would be necessary to "Invent" this tra- Discourse dition. Since our literary aristocracy lacked a Rachel had a unique task ahead of her, quite genealogy, the founders' best strategy was to similar to the challenge of translating the mas- spiritually create patrons for their seats that culine robe into lhe feminine - she would represented "traditional, illustrious names in have to adapt, or at least mollify, lhe solemn national fiction, poetry, critique, and elo- patriarchal passing-down of national literary quence"6 . The suggestion for naming patrons patrimony. What metaphors would Rachel for the seats carne from Joaquim Nabuco, need to translate lhe heroic Academic dis- according to lhe preliminary text of the course into the specific syntax of the weaker Bylaws and Statutes: "Each of the Academy's sex? Seat number five'slineage was mode up 40 seats will be named in honor of one of lhe of Bernardo Guimarães (patron), Raimundo main Brazilian writers, and the first occupant Corrêa (founder), Oswaldo Cruz, Aloysio de of each seat will stand before it and give a Castro, and Cândido Mota Filho. Now it speech in praise of lhe literary name inscribed would be Rachel's. How would she aparo- on it."7 priately request ritual permission and sit com- However, this genealogical impulse was not forte bly on this spot that had been occupied created by lhe literary academies. Throug- since 1897 by exponents and founders of Bra- hout literary historiography and review, there zilian national culture, if she was going to wear is a common, recurrent concern for estab- a long gown with a V-shaped neck and high- lishing lineages, with exhaustive scrutiny of heeled shoes and was not going to be bea- "influences" in writings, in works, and in the ring a sword? constitution of literary schools, with identifica- Rachel chose lhe longest yet surest route. She tion of the "founders" of national literature. It returned to lhe "sertão", the hinterland of her might be said that the establishment of legiti- native Ceará, in a olear search for self-under- mate families with "patriarchs", "heroes", and standing, and presented the solemn plenary "geniuses" is one of the central ideas in literary with a young girl searching for the moon with critique and theory and even that literary her eyes, standing on the gable of the old history is constructed like a traditional system colonial teflon house. Beginning there, layer of patriarchal patronage, that is, within a pa- by layer, as if in a moving picture, as if in a trilinear logic based on the legacy of property dream, she reconstructed her first contact and patrimony. with Raimundo Corrêa, patron of the chair The Brazilian Academy of Letters, founded that in a few minutes would be hers. "The girl under the basic logic of protecting and pre- looks at lhe moon, aims her gaze right into the serving national linguistic and literary patri- platter-shaped moon, with eyes that are mony and as the loftiest organ for literary nearsighted. She sighs, but it is a different kind consecration and legislation in Brazil, was no of sigh, satisfied, consoled; the girl is still not at exception to this rule. Each seat, as it was lhe age for sighs as such, she is at the age of "occupied" by a new member, required the imagination and dreams. Gazing into the retracing and reconstitution of the genealo- moon, silently, scarcely moving her lips, she gical line that defined it. The ritualization of a whispers a prayer to herself, a spell - a poem? member's investiture, whether through the A poem that is prayer and incantation. She speech in which the aspirant was to retrace whispers as if she were praying to lhe moon,

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 1 97 N 0/92 and in fact, she is praying to the moon. In this public of masters and mistresses. spell prayed by the girl you have already As for Oswaldo Cruz, the third link in the com- recognized the unforgettable poem. And in plex genealogy of her chair, Rachel observed that adolescent who was trying to ma ke her- that he had entered the Academy not as a self sorceress of that lunar cult, allow me to writer "but as part of a very rare category, the introduce you to the old woman of today: very special 'hera category'". Once again trying to unveil her ancient ties with the poem she went backward in time and painted a and it lofty author [Raimundo Corrêa]," What fascinating picture (one I would go so far as is even more fantastic is that later on in her to say was ironic) of this category which in one speech she tells how she had found this poem way or another was alive there in the !oureis, "in a book that had already been read the brilliance, and the swords of the 39 mem- threadbare by an earlier generation of girls" - bers who were present in fact or in spirit. Ha- her aunts. Using a classically feminine stra- ving made the initial distinction between "he- tegy, Rachel had succeeded in bewitching roes that kill", like Alexander, Caesar, and Na- her audience in the first few lines of her poleon, and those that defend life, "the an- speech and in recovering another whole li- gelical heroes", under which classification she neage that had also taken pari in and sha- included Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, she went on to ped Brazilian literature: the massive presence describe his adventures and glory in the strug- of women as both readers and teachers in gle against the alague, ignorance, maioria in stimulating our literary tradition. She at once the Amazon, and yellow fever in Pará. recovered the female lineage in her literary Rachel then went on to laud Aloysio de Cas- background and (to use a word that is in style) tro, the third occupant of Bernardo Guima- "privatized" Raimundo Corrêa as a founding rães' seat. As in the case of Raimundo Corrêa, figure, turning him simplyinto her "own private, she did not canonically praise her predeces- mysterious, crazy poet". sor but provided a "flash" of her private, per- Now, with the seat's patron, poet Bernardo sonal connection with the academician. On- Guimaraes, Rachel took a stance that was ce again, by route of her feminine "network", probably unique in the House by approa- in this case her friend Lota Macedo Soares, ching him critically and rejecting the links of she had been taken to Aloysio de Castro's parentage that according to Academy home. Not her own private poet, the prince norms she should have been tightening. She of a young girl's dreams, but as was fitting for even questioned Raimundo for having cho- her age in the logic of atavistic feminine fan- sen Bernardo, referring to the (atter as "a slave tasies, it was a gallant cavalier that emerged to the law, almost neurotically scrupulous", from Rachel's words, filling the solemn air of while the first was "his antipode, an irreverent the ceremony. "Token by surprise, the master Bohemian who stood up to authority, recei- poet received us in his study, sitting at the ved callers playing the guitar, attended ap- piano, dressed in a burgundy satin robe. And pointments quoting burlesque verse...and softly interrupting Lotas outbursts, he asked was a symbol for ali his [Bernardo's] stifled who I was, smiling in satisfaction when he insubordination." Rachel went out on a limb learned of my trade. He began to play a song, with her own first Academie insubordination I think to make me feel at home. He was and did not seem prone to the kind of praise extremely kind and unforgettable: the granel for law and order that might justify (in the eyes piano, where there were pictures in silver tra- of cnany) her chair's patron's contradictory mes, the shady study, and the lovable gentle- positions. On page tive of her speech, she man delicately picking out a Chopin prelu- denounced Bernardo Guimarães, "who did de." not have the courage to confront the taboos Unlike the others, Cândido Mota Filho, who of his time; who wrote racist restrictions, as did until that moment had held the chair that was ali the other adversaries of slavery - pious, to be hers, merited a meticulous, objective paternalistic, moved by charitable senti- evaluation by the soon-to-be literary immor- ments, but not at ali egalitarian". She went on tal, who praised his intellectual, political, and to critize his most famous novel, Escrava Isau- social valor as well as his activities as a lawyer, ra a white character created for a reading journalist, politician, professor, and man of

ANO O -I 98 2° SEMESTRE letters. In the best Academic style, Rachel study of cultural resistence, marginal areas solidly retraced the legitimacy of her prede- and marginal figures in literature, and the cessor's lineage. The time had now come for name Rachel de Queiroz was as noble as it Rachel to include herself as the latest link in a was distant to me. In reality, I was not attrac- linear chain that symbolized seat number fi- ted to the world of academies and great ve's tradition and to finally receive this legiti- writers. Of the Academy members, I had only mate legacy, the patrimony that this illustrious approached Afrânio Coutinho, and this only lineage represented. As the curtains were because of a coincidence that made me his about to close on her speech, there carne a assistent at the beginning of my professional surprise: while she was completely disinteres- career. And it was Afrânio Coutinho that in- ted in the historical and literary value of the troduced me to Rachel de Queiroz at the man Cândido Mota Filho, whomshe had prol- boarding gato ir the Galeão airport in Rio, on sed so respectfully, the first woman in the the way to a meeting of Latin American wri- Academy's long history went backward in ters in Brasília. It only took a second for me to time again, taking her listeners back to a realize that I was irreversibly spellbound by sunny afternoon at Flamengo Park in Rio, Wri- her. When I got back to Rio, I called Rachel to ter Rachel and Minister Motta Filho were tal- set up an interview for an orticle I was doing king a bout family matters. She descri bed Moi- on Orson Welles' visit to Brazil, which was no ta Filho talking rather prudently a bout his ad- doubt a pretext to meet with her again. It was miration for Nelsinho Motta, his grandson, then that, having forgotten Orson Welles and whose irresistible love for popular music might knowing of my interest in studying women, just have proved unfitting for the famous woman like Sherazade, Rachel began to weave and scholar's probable elitist fastos. Rachel had teu l infinite stories of northeastern Brazilian ma- sealed an affectionate grandmotherly cum- triarchs, strong, independent, powerful, and plicity with Motta Filho by confessing to be "an extremely cruel women. Story after story unconditional fan" of the rebel descendant of emerged, of Dona Bárbara de Alencar, Dona seat number five's last occupant. The "grand Federalina de Lavras, Dona Monica Macedo. finale" to her inaugural speech was antiheroic These were characters that reminded me of par excellence, underrating the laurels of lite- some of the dominating, fearful figures that rary genealogy and conciuding with family peopled novels by José de Alencar, Macha- matters, "sweetly and contentedly" discussing do de Assis, and Aluísio de Azevedo, of Dona the private space by which she was penetra- Guidinha do Poço, Jorge Amados Bahian ting the public space of literary consecration ladies, Pedro Novas' women from Minas Ge- with her usual natural air. rais. These were paradigmatic feminino ima- Ore apparently unimportant "post scriptum" ges of an archetypical, familiar Brazil. is befitting: Inspite of the atmosphere of na- Still, I felt that something distinguished Ra- tionwide turmoil that Rachel's inauguration chel's matriarchs trem those characters from raised, not one single time did Adonias Filhos Brazilian novels, distant imagos of a Brazil lost welcoming speech mention the historical fact ir the remoto past. I realized how our writers that Rachel de Queiroz was the first woman had taken (and still take) strange pleasure in to belong to the Brazilian Academy of Letters. presenting them as barbarian, oppressive ca- ricatures. In Rachel's stories, on the contrary, Easy Fame? the deeds, audacity, and daily lives of wo- I will now return to the issue I raised at the men of the "sertão" shone brightly. Her narra- beginning: how unusually breathtaking Ra- tive, which befrayed a certain kind of pride, chel de Queiroz's career had been conside- brought ouve in the present the memory of ring the traditional obstacles to recognition of the various forms of temi nine power that had women's work. And drawing on the same been forgotten ar destroyed throughout his- strategies Rachei used in her inaugural tory. However, ano question still puzzled me: speech, I will also go back to my first contact what was Rachel talking about when shespo- with the writer who since then has been the ke of the matriarchs? center of my feminist concerns. From then on I perceived that to study women I have always devoted my attention to the ir Brazil and in Brazilian literature without doa-

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 99 N 0/92 ling with Rachel de Queiroz would be rash, at itself, as she often said. She preferred the the very least. individual, autonomous road. Ever since O Rachel, like the matriarchs she invokes, had Quinze had been released, she had proven always lived "naturally" with power. At age to be completely at will between private and twenty, she was already considered a defini- public spaces, between her daily lif e, literatu- tive writer (owner of a "masculine, virile writing re, and politics. While she surprised and even style"). She had continuously and significa ntly shocked the critics with the quality of her occupied space in the Brazilian press. As she writing, her intellectual trajectory does not still does, she had moved about without any seem to have caused particular discomfort apparent constraint or embarrassment in the among her male colleagues. The most striking most influential, powerful circles of our intel- proof of this, still referring to her admittance to lectual elite. She had ¡oined the Communist the Brazilian Academy of Letters, was the "na- Party, but when she saw her novel João Mi- tural", consensual way her election was recei- guel censored by her coreligionaries she did ved as the first woman to belong to the de- not hesitate in leaving the party and adhering fensive Academy. to Trotskyism. In 1937, she was arrested in For- Journalist Ana Luisa Collor de Mello perhaps taleza. She got married, separated, and dis- struck closest to the truth when she wrote the covered with a degree of freedom that was following in the Gazeta de Alagoas on August surprising for hei time the joy of inventing and 9, 1977: "I s-e-r-i-o-u-s-l-y d-o-u-b-t that the first building her private and professional life just woman to enter the exclusive Brazilian Aca- as she pleased. She had access to and in- demy of Letters could have been anyone but fluence in Brazilian politics, was invited by Jâ- a Northeasterner.... I have no doubt that Ra- nio Quadros to be Minister of Education, rep- chel de Queiroz symbolizes Northeastern wo- resented Brazil at the United Nations, and was men. This victory belongs to the people of the a founding member of the National Cultural Northeast. Or should I say, to the people of Council. As we have seen, she was the first Brazil." Rachel was not for from this opinion woman to become o member of the Aca- when she stated to O Globo a short time later, demy of Letters, in the midst of a national "It was not I that °Mereci the Academy, it was celebration. the people of Ceará."(0 Globo, October 29, In short, she was a notable "exception" to the 1977). almost exclusively masculine framework of Was this demagoguery? lhe hypothesis is not ter ary history in Brazil. Her first critics' discom- very likely, considering how coherent her vast fort over O Quinze had been an eloquent work was, linked as it was in a visceral way to example of this. the "Northeastern Brazilianness" that was Still, this exceptionalness, which was relatively emerging in the 1930s, consecrated definiti- common in modernism around the world, see- vely by Gilberto Freyre's work8 , ar even taking med insufficient to explain Rachel's case. a common-sense view of her personality, ex- lhe modernist intellectuals and artists that pressed in Manuel Bandeiras now-classic stood out, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, diagnosis: "No one is as Brazil as Rachel is. I like Virginia Woolf, Gertrud Stein, ar even Tar- mean, Brazil in every sense of the word: brasí- sila do Amaral in Brazil, based themselves on lico, brasiliense, brasiliana, brasileira." [Four radically transgressive customs and principies, different ways of saying "Brazilian" in Brazilian confronting bourgeois values seen as back- Portuguese: "brasílica" refers to people or ward, taking sides with feminist struggles and things native to Brazil, "brasiliense" is a native experimental, iconoclastic aesthetics. Oc- ar inhabitant of the national capital Brasília, cupying this new public space that was ope- "brasiliana" refers to a collection of books, ning up to women little by little was done publications, and studies on Brazil, and "brasi- traumatically, paying the high price of com- leira" refers to a female Brazilian - T.N.]. petition and confrontation with established I am further reminded of the final sentence in norms. her first writings, a nationalist manifesto, as was Rachel, on the other hand, did not seem to usual for the time, published in the Maracajá identify with feminism, political or literary gain, magazine in April 1929, thus at the height of or the vanguards - ar even with modernism modernism. Rachel, then 18, declared: "I sing

ANO O 200 2 9 SEMESTRE to my land's tumultuous present and to its processes for legitimation and involvement in past, so short, so olear, so full of vitality that it the public space which shed light on and is almost like another present." challenge the classical premises of traditional begin to think back to the strange feeling of political theory l °. discovery that Rachel's stories gave me du- In our case, Rachel's career and hei "natural" ring our first encounter. There was tremendous exceptionalness and recognition show not revelation for me, this noive feminist from lhe only how fragile lhe concept of private space Rio-São Paulo axis in discovering lhe symbolic is in lhe formation of Brazilian society but abo- force of tales and deeds in those distant, ve ali how she, as a self-styled feminist, revoa- semilegendary women owners of land and led hei enormous talent in using domesticity cattle in the Northeastern hinterland, lhe "ser- to expand on lhe language of public and tão". These were stories of women with total political freedom, thus succeeding in extraor- control over their lives, managing ranches dinarily reestablishing the elasticity of lhe pri- and dominating children, relatives, tenant vate power of lhe authentic matriarchs and farmers, slaves. They administered a broad their force in Brazilian social imagination. network of powers including the local eco- She began her professional career around nomy, politics, and clergy. The state and lhe 1930, a delicate moment in Brazilian history, Church were thus defined as an extension of when lhe institutionalization of spaces (whet- the family, with lhe massive presence of femi- her they were allowed for women ar not) nine power. Women, as ranchers and heads began to take shape. of families, invented and improvised diverse What meta phors were necessary at this point social roles, bridging differences between lhe to ma ke women's penetration and participa- public and private spheres9 . They thus de- tion in public life feasible? What did women monstrated surprisingly how the patriarchal rely on to define their individuality? What is Brazilian family in practice succeeded in be- behind lhe imago (which is almost always a getting anti-patriarchal, semi-patriarchal, conservative ano) oh the few women who did and para-patriarchal forms of social organi- succeed not only in expressing themselves zation. culturally in an active way but also in being It is curious that ano of lhe themes that has accepted by society during this period? proven dearest to international feminist histo- Rachel, who possesses "unparalleled auto- riography is precisely the rereading of lhe nomy and independence in Brazilian wo- complex process of redefining sexual roles men's writing", in Gilberto Freyre's words11, during the formative period of lhe modern gives us some duos, In principie, she very republic, when for lhe first time lhe home clearly characterizes hei individuality, rejec- economy was no longer lhe centrai produc- ting any kind of association with feminist ar tive unit. Expressions of indignation, such as literary groups ar movements and systemati- that of Montesquieu when he denounced cally omitting from hei discourse any trace of "lhe unrestricted freedom of women of lhe explicit competition, that great "modern" mo- aristocracy" and "lhe vices of aristocratic lu- le bugaboo. xury" and especially their role as power bro- II is not difficult to find testimony like this pub- kers at the heart of royal society, and that of lished at lhe time of her admittance to lhe Rousseau, who publicly denounced "lhe un- Academy: "I don't like to write. 1 only write to natural practices" of aristocratic women who make money. if I could, I wouldn't even sign renounced their maternal duties to take pari my nome. The truth is that I'm not a novelist - in worldly matters, revoai lhe argumentative m a good housekeeper, a better cook than heat of the cultural segregation that "modern a writer." Or like lhe high-flown declaration to civilization" imposed over women themselves Mansa Raja Gabaglia that made headlinesin and their penetration and participation in pu- a well-known Rio magazine: "My motherhood blic life. In this context, as recent studies show is inexhaustible." There is no denying that this (although still not in sufficient detail), in res- image "caught on" and that it is going to ponse to lhe strictly misogynous and dualistic become lhe "leitmotif" of lhe commemorati- construction of home and state as separate ve volume for her eightieth birthday, which is spheres, women developed extremely subtle to be published by lhe José Olympic) publis-

ESTuDoS FEMINISTAS 201 N. 0/92 hing house. For example, Otto Lora Rezende BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES says on pago 124: "I would date to say that 1. Montello, Josué. "As Mulheres na Academia", Jornal she manages her own affairs badly or not at do Brasil, August 5, 1976. ali, in the senso that she doesn't take her own 2. Jornal do Commércio, May 31. 1934. tafent seriously or try to make it more profes- 3. Speech by Magalhães Jr. upon receiving Dinah Sil- sional.... Rachel doesn't let herself be carried veira de Queiroz into lhe Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1980. away by the image she projects of herself. She 4. With regard to lhe history of lhe Brazilian Academy of is natural to a flaw, as if poking fun at what is Letters and lhe French Academy, see: Neves, Fernão, conventionally considered literary glory. Ha- A Academia Brasileira de Letras: Notas e Documentos ving done everything that she has, she looks para a sua História (1896-1940), Brazilian Academy of at what she has done with a touch of disdain. Letters, 1940, 5. Speech given at lhe founding session of the Brazilian Sometimes I wonder ir' it doesn't even occur Academy of Letters on July 20, 1897, ai 8:00 PM, In one to her that she is Rachel de Queiroz."12 of lhe rooms of the Pedagogium at 28, Rua do Passeio, Yet it does OCC1Jf to this self-styled feminist, so Rio de Janeiro. much so that in addition to her highly discipli- 6. Machado de Assis, ibidem. 7 Neves, Fernão, A Academia Brasileira de Letras: Notas ned literary work, she was capable of paving e Documentos para a sua História (1896-1940), Brazilian an unparalleled personal and professional Academy of Letters, 1940. pathway. What appears to be at stake here 8. lhe concept of "brasilidade nordestina" (North- - and it is precisely this that is fascinating in a eastern Brazitionness) emerged in the 1930s in lhe ideo- study on Rachel de Queiroz - are the building logical struggle between Regionalism and São Paulo Modernism and expresses the impasse generoted by processes in this trajectory as an exemplary lhe 1930 Revolution between lhe country's new and old policy for the instrumentalization of a rchetypi- political and social elites. This ideo was developed by cal oligarchical and still-residual structures in Michel Zaidon in his work on lhe Northeastern novel in the logic and dynamics of social relations in a 1930 and bis proposal for creating and disseminating lhe concept of lhe Northeast as lhe 'cradle of Brazilian "Northeastern Brazilianness" that overflowed nationality", presented ai lhe seminar "Rachel de Quei- from the ranchos into lhe royalty in the forma- roz: a woman, her work and her time', Universidade tion of the Brazilian state, Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, September 16, 1991. II was somewhat like this that on November 4, 9. Research on lhe role of women in lhe formation of 1977, Rachel de Queiroz - shunning lhe Aca- lhe Brazilian state and lhe notions of public and private space in lhe 19th century have been developed in demic sword but never her profound know- rigorous and pioneering work by Maria Odila Silva Dias, ledge of Brazil - donned a long green gown partially revealed in conferences and as-yet unpublis- with a V-shaped neckline and gold-embroi- hed papers. dered motits and opened the doors to officioi 10. Landes, Joon. "Women and lhe Pubtic Sphere: A Medemn Perspective". In Social Analysis. nQ 15, August literary recognition for women. 1984, pp. 20-31. 11. Freyre, Gilberto. Ultima Hora, Rio de Janeiro, Sep- tember 18, 1977. 12. Rezende, Otto Lara. 'Razões e Flores". In Rachel de Queiroz: Os Oitenta, pp. 123-125. Rio de Janeiro, José Olympio Editora, 1990.

I wish to thank Valéria Lamego and Alessan- dra Lariu for their enthusiastic collab °ration in this study ond CNPq, the Brazilion National Reseorch Council, for its support.

ANO 0202 2° SEMESTRE Abstracts Résumés

MARIA JOSÉ F. ROSADO NUNES Of Women and Gods This article is divided into hree parts. lhe first pari deals with two recent publications on Feminist Theology and religiousstudies, providing an opportunity to discuss the issue of "women and religion", which is rarely approached in lhe Brazilian feminist context. Delving into these publications leads us to lhe question about the historical origins of women's theological inquiry, lhe object of lhe second part of this article. Finally, Rosado discusses lhe issue of contemporary women's theological research in Latin America, particularly Brazil. Des femmes et des Dieux Cet article se divise entrais parties. Dans Ia première, Rosado reprend deux publications recentes dans le domaine de Ia Théologie Féministe et des Eludes de Ia Religion pour les analyser. Ce faisant, elle int roduit la deuxième porfie de l'article, tournée vers une réflexion des origines historiques de Ia pensée théologique des femmes. Enfin, elle s'interroge sur la production contemporaine des femmes théolo- giennes d'Amérique Latine, en particulier du Brésil.

ELIZABETH FOX-GENOVESE Beyond Sisterhood lhe author of this article uses lhe metaphor of sisterhood to analyze how feminine political beings are created from a historical perspective. Stressing lhe last thirty years, Fox-Genovese compares the conceptsof sisterhood and feminism and discusses how both deal with lhe universalness and specificity of women's st ruggles, particularly in lhe United States middle class. Her reflection questions lhe weight of individualism in contemporary feminism. Au-délà de Ia communaute des femmes En s'appuyant sur la métaphore de ia communaut é des femmes, Fox-Genovese s'interroge, dons une perspective historique, sur le processus de création des êtres politiques féminins. Elle oppose les concepts de communauté des femmes et de féminisme, à partir d'une discussion sul l'universalite et Ia spécificité des luttes de femmes, notamment celles de Ia classe moyenne américaine. Son objectif est de remettre en cause le poids de l'individualisme dons le féminisme contemporain.

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 203 N. 0/92 Abstracts Résumés

MARY G. CASTRO The Alchemy of Social Categories in the Production of Political Subjects This article discusses how women activists in the domestic servants' trade union in Salvador, Bahia, produce themselves and are produced as political subjects. Based on social practices, Castro analyzes social categories such as gender, roce, and generation and their interweaving with social class relations. The author identifies multiple determining factors administering rebellion; based on a gender approach, she questions lhe universalization and essentialisms of social categories. This feminist metho- dology recovers the Greek meaning of lhe word "theory" (theorein) - to look ai ar examine - thus departing from universal subjects and self-referred theoretical frameworks. L'alchimie des catágories sociales dans la production des sujets politiques En partant de l'étude des femmes syndicalistes employées de maison à Salvador (Bahia), Castro cherche à détecter le processus de constitution des sujets politiques femmes. Pour son analyse, ele considere descatégoriessociales imbriquées- race, genre et génération en rapport avec ia situation de classe de ce groupe social. Son objectif consiste, premièrement, dons l'identification de multiples déterminations dons la gestion de ia revolte et, deuxièmement, dons la remise en cause de principes universels, dont on se sert pour apréhender les catégories sociales.

HELOISA BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA Rachel's Gown Rachel de Queiroz was the first woman to be admitted to lhe Brazilian Academy of Letters, ar the "House of Machado de Assis". This article is an analysis of the political and literary career of one of Brazil's most well-known writers as well as the national debate surrounding her entry into the Academy. The article is divided into seven paris, ranging from lhe publication of her first novel, O Quinze, in 1930, to her inaugural speech ai lhe Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1977. However, Heloísa Buarque de Hollanda analyzes lhe discussion concerning what kind of uniform Rachel was to wear to her investiture ai lhe Academy to show how conservative lhe "official literature" is. La robe de Rachel, une étude sans importance L'entrée de Rachel de Queiroz à l'Académie Brésilienne de Lettres (ABL), la première femme à se faire une place dons la "Maison de Machado de Assis", a suscite un débat passionné à l'échelle nationale. Buarque de Hollanda brosse une analyse de ia trajectoire politique et littéraire d'un des auteurs contemporains les plus renommés au Brésil, depuis ia publication de son premier roman, O Quinze, en 1930, jusqu'au jour de son discours d'entrée à l'Académie Brésilienne de Lettres, en 1977. C'est autour de la discussion sur l'habit que devait porter Rachel de Queiroz le jour de son intronisation que Buarque de Hollanda nous fali découvrir le conservatisme de ia "littérature officielle" brésilienne.

ANO O 204 2 , SEMESTRE Abstracts Résumés

HELEIETH SAFFIOTI Reminiscences and Rereadings This article is a tribute to sociologist Elizabeth de Souza Lobo, who died in March, 1991. Saffioti discusses lhe central categories developed by Souza Lobo in her academic, political, and personal feminist trajectory. The author goes beyond conceptual differences to recover Beth Lobos original, relevant work in reflecting on gender in Brazil. Réminiscences et relectures Dons c& article, Saffiofi rend hommage à Elizabeth de Souza Lobo, décédée en mars 1991, à l'occasion d'un accident de voiture. Dons un effort de systématisation, elle reprend l'oeuvre de Souza Lobo pour en détacher les contributions les plus originales et importantes pour la réflexion sur les rapports sociaux de sexe au Brésil. C'est également l'occasion pour Saffioti de mettre en valeur Ia trajectoire académi- que, politique et personnelle de Souza Lobo en tant que féministe.

LEILA DE ANDRADE LINHARES BARSTED Legalization and Decriminalization of Abortion in Brazil: Ten Years of Femi- nist Struggle This article recapitulates ten years of struggle for lhe legalization of abortion in Brazil, particularly in lhe Rio-São Paulo area. Based on a chronological analysis of lhe issue, Linhares Barsted emphasizes lhe complexity of positions assumed by lhe feminisi movement as well as iIs st rategies, advances, retreats, consensuses, and points of dissension. Throughout lhe article, lhe author stresses lhe feminist move- ment's internai contradictions during this period and Brazil's political context in lhe 1960s and 1970s as well as lhe movement's confrontations with lhe Catholic Church. Légalisation et dépénalisation de l'avortement au Brésil: dix années de lutte féministe Linhares Barsted présente une retrospective de la lutte pour ie droit à l'avortement au Brésil, menée notamment dans les villes de Rio de Janeiro et São Paulo. Ele presente une analyse chronologique des falis et met en valeur Ia complexité des positions prises par le mouvement féministe, aussi bien que ses stratégies de lutte, ses progres, ses reculs, en liaison avec la conjoncture politique brésilienne de redémocratisation. Les contlits avec l' Eglise catholique, important partenaire politique et social du processus de redémocratisation, sont rappelés, de même que les impasses qui font que l'avortement reste toujours interdit au Brésil.

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 205 N 0/92 Contents Sommaire

ARTICLES 5 Of Women and Gods Des femmes et dos Dieux MARIA JOSÉ F. ROSADO NUNES 31 Beyond Sisterhood Au-delà de ia communauté dos femmes ELIZABETH FOX-GENOVESE 57 lhe Alchemy of Social Categories in the Production of Political Subjects L'alchimie des catégories sociales dons Ia construction des sujets politiques MARY G. CASTRO 74 Rachel's Gown La robe de Rachei, une étude sons importance HELOISA BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA 97 Reminiscences and Rereadings Réminiscences et relectures HELEIETH SAFFIOTI 104 Legalization and Decriminalization of Abortion: Ten Years of Feminist Struggle in Brazil Légaisation et dépénalisation de l'avortement. '10 ans de lutte féministe ou Brésil LEILA DE ANDRADE LINHARES BARSTED

DOSSIER ON WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT

FEMMES ET ENV1RONNEMENT 131 Looking Back on the Women's Tent Mémoires de /a planei-e Fêmea ROSISKA DARCY DE OLIVEIRA 143 Feminism as Metaphor for Nature Le féminisme comme métaphore de /a nature BILA SORJ 151 Feminine Echoes in Eco '92 Echos féminins dons l'Eco-92 NAU MI A. DE VASCONCELLOS

ANO 0206 2° SEMESTRE Contents Sommaire

155 Women Workers and the Environment: A Feminist Look at Trade Unionism Femmes travailleuses et environnement: un regard féministe sur le syndicalisme MARIA BERENICE G. DELGADO ET MARIA MARGARETH LOPES 163 Undoing Natural Links Between Gender and Environment Dénouer le rapport naturel entre genre et environnement SANDRA MARA GARCIA

FEATURE / SPÉCIAL

169 Legalization and Decriminalization of Abortion in Brazil: Ten Years of Feminist Struggle LEILA DE ANDRADE LINHARES BARSTED 187 Rachel's Gown HELOISA BUARQUE DE HOLLANDA 203 Abstracts / Résumés 206 Contents / Sommaire

BOOK REVIEWS / CRITIQUES DE LIVRES 209 Escape from Scientific Anonymity La sortie de l'anonymat scientifique PAOLA CAPPELIN 211 A History of the Confessor's Handbook Une histoire des manuels de confession MIRIAM MOREIRA LEITE 213 Iara, History and Daily Life /ara, histoire et quotidien MARCO AURÉLIO GARCIA 215 Homosexuality and Corporative Rights in France Homossexualité et corporatisme cies mères en Franca DANDA PRADO

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 207 N. 0/92 Contents Sommaire

219 When Feminism is Post-Modern Quand le féminisme est post-moderne VALÉRIA LAMEGO 220 Between Hope and the Apocalypse Entre l'espoir et l'apocalypse MARIA CARNEIRO DA CUNHA 222 A Criticai Vanguard Revisited L'avant-garde critique en revue LENA LAVINAS 223 The Feminine Mystery of Secret Le mystère féminin du secret CLARICE NUNES 226 A Call to Debate Un appe/ au débat VALÉRIA DE MARCO 228 The Power of Seduction Today Toujours le pouvoir de Ia séduction ANA ARRUDA CALLADO 234 AGENDA

242 CONTRIBUTORS / COLLABORATEURS

ANO 0208 2 Q SEMESTRE