SOUZA, D. B.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/2280418776704783; SOUZA, Daniel Bezerra de.
Résumé:
This research analyzes the novel Helena (1876) from one of the most important Brazilian
writers, Machado de Assis, from a feminist and a post-colonial perspectives. This
combination of perspectives has been used in the last decades in analysis of literary works
aiming at establishing intersections between gender, race and class in (post)colonial contexts.
It is important to highlight the pioneering aspect of this research, since we could not find
works that analyze this novel from a post-colonial bias. Actually, the lack of studies of the
national literature from such lenses is still rare, maybe due to the fact that Brazil was the only
colony in the world to become the capital of the Empire that colonized itself, what made the
national letters show the illusion of belonging to the Portuguese essence – it is in such context
that Helena’s plot is located. However, with the political independence, the road taken by
Brazil led it to a complete break with the old imperialist Metropole, and that made the local
writers ―ignore‖ the colonial past and focus on the future. Thus, Helena reproduces the
imperialist and patriarchal ideologies that dominated the social scene in the 19th century,
being it portrayed as of total harmony with the colonial and slavery situation, in the case of
the Brazilian characters (white and black), and of total female conformity with the patriarchal
domination, either the white or the black women. This is a typical phallacy in colonial and
patriarchal texts, that is, the lack of resistance and critical thinking from the subalterns
characters.