O País (1884–1934) and the corpus of the research
O País was chosen because this morning paper was not only home to a very diverse group of contributors, but also because some of them appeared in its pages for years, as was the case with the four selected writers, Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho, Délia, Júlia Lopes de Almeida, and Carmen Dolores.
1 The authors Maria Benedita Câmara Bormann and Emília Moncorvo Bandeira de Melo are better known by the pseudonyms Délia and Carmen Dolores, respectively. Henceforth we shall refer to them by their pseudonyms. This observation raises several questions, and it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the focus on the female audience was a strategy designed to distinguish the newspaper and attract the attention of a scarce readership that was highly contested among various newspapers, especially given the country’s high illiteracy rates.
When it was launched on 1 October 1884, O País had to compete with other established dailies, such as the oldest of them all, Jornal do Comércio (Rio de Janeiro, 1827–2016), the modern Gazeta de Notícias (Rio de Janeiro, 1875–1977), and the evening paper Gazeta da Tarde (Rio de Janeiro, 1880–1901), as well as others that entered circulation shortly after, such as Diário de Notícias (Rio de Janeiro, 1885–95). This inevitably led its editors to implement strategies to set it apart from its competitors. These included featuring illustrious contributors, as revealed in the text published in its third issue:
Today we are publishing in our columns the first article in a series promised to us by the illustrious Portuguese writer, Counsellor Manoel Pinheiro Chagas, our assistant in Lisbon. Our readers will give due credit to the writing of this remarkable stylist who has made such a name for himself in literature. We also have the valuable assistance of Mrs Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho and of Mr Antônio Ennes, Mr Gervásio Lobato and Mr Cristóvão Aires, all of whom are highly-trained and will be assiduously sending us their work. The private correspondence is written from Portugal for
O País by the distinguished journalist Jaime Vitor. By inviting so many and such esteemed writers to honour these columns, we believe we are demonstrating our efforts to serve the public well.
2 Noticiário, O País, 1, 3, p. 1, 3 Oct. 1884. The note indicates that the launch had been carefully prepared, so much so that the foreign contributors, all Portuguese, had already been secured, including Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho, the first woman to have a fixed column and who debuted in the sixth issue (6 October 1884). It was customary for newspapers in Rio de Janeiro to have correspondents and contributors based in Europe who commented on the political and cultural scene. World affairs were known almost instantaneously thanks to notes arriving via telegraph, with analyses being left to the texts that arrived later by steamship. The international writers were Brazilians living in Europe and, above all, Portuguese. This was due to the obvious language benefit, which helped create connections between the two sides of the Atlantic.
O País was therefore no exception. It is important to note that
Gazeta de Notícias published columns signed by Eça de Queirós, who was based in Newcastle while serving as ambassador, Ramalho Ortigão, who contributed from Lisbon, and Mariano Pina from Paris.
3 On the job of correspondent in the 1880s and, in particular, the work of Mariano Pina, see: Tania Regina de Luca, ‘Mariano Pina in Gazeta de Notícias’, in Para uma história do jornalismo português no mundo, António Hohlfeldt and Alberto Pena-Rodríguez (eds) (Lisbon: Instituto de Comunicação da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova, 2021), pp. 156–195.The owner of this morning paper, initially only four pages long, a format that was common at the time, was the Brazilian businessman João José dos Reis Júnior. For a short time, the leading politician and jurist Rui Barbosa was at the helm. Barbosa authored the editorial in which O País declared its commitment to covering economic, agricultural, and industrial issues, as well as actions taken by public authorities. The editorial announced the establishment of its own telegraph service, the employment of independent correspondents, and a dedicated section for readers. Additionally, it promised to publish serialised novels and book reviews. Due to disagreements with Reis Júnior, Barbosa left his management role a few days after the launch. In November 1884, the ardent republican and politician Quintino Bocaiúva joined the newspaper and, for decades, shaped its editorial direction. The paper insisted on declaring itself neutral and independent of political parties; however, a careful analysis of the content allows us to question this supposed impartiality, which now appears to be more declared than real.
Considering the intense political unrest at the time when the first issue hit the streets, with rising tensions between the army and the monarchy and the growth of the anti-slavery social movement, it is difficult to see how any daily newspaper could remain completely neutral. Faced with legislative proposals to postpone the end of slavery, abolitionists took to the streets and promoted actions that encouraged the enslaved to flee. This was in addition to the Republican tide, which criticised the regime and, in particular, the emperor. The new newspaper was a hit with the public, as shown by its steadily growing circulation, starting at around 11,000 copies and reaching 26,000 by 1888, leading the newspaper to adopt, with an obvious dose of exaggeration, a bold slogan, printed on its masthead between 1888 and 1907: ‘O País is the newspaper with the largest circulation in South America’.
In 1890, the paper became a joint-stock company and changed hands several times until 1904, when it was taken over by Portuguese businessman João de Souza Lage, who was already its managing director. From then on,
O País aligned itself with the different governments of the First Republic (1889–1930), so much so that, after the victory of the movement that brought Getúlio Vargas to power and inaugurated the so-called New Republic (1930–45) in October 1930, its facilities were looted and its circulation interrupted. Relaunched in November 1933, it was unsuccessful and ceased circulation in 1934.
4 Andreá Santos da Silva Pessanha, ‘O País e a Gazeta Nacional. Imprensa republicana e abolição. Rio de Janeiro 1884–1888’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Universidade Federal Fluminense, 2006), <www.historia.uff.br/stricto/teses/Tese-2006_PESSANHA_Andrea_Santos_da_Silva-S.pdf> [accessed 7 Jan. 2024]. See also Nelson Werneck Sodré, História da imprensa no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Mauad, 1999), pp. 331–336 and Marialva Barbosa, Os donos do Rio. Imprensa, poder e público (Rio de Janeiro: Vício de Leitura, 2000), pp. 48–57. Our research therefore focussed on the period in which
O País enjoyed the greatest prestige in the Brazilian press, between its foundation in 1884 and 1912.
The cornerstone of the project is the evaluation of women’s contribution to the mainstream press. Indeed, since the mid-nineteenth century, women had been active in journalism in Brazil, with the inaugural milestone of
O Espelho Diamantino (Rio de Janeiro, 1827–28). In relation to their set-up, some were launched and run by men and aimed at women, such as
Jornal das Famílias (Rio de Janeiro, 1863–78) and
A Estação (Rio de Janeiro, 1879–1904). Others were created by and for women, such as
A Família (SP, RJ, 1888–98). The content varied from being combative and feminist to being more conventional and aligned with the status quo.
5 Regarding A Estação, see Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva, ‘From Germany to Brazil: The History of the Fashion Magazine A Estação, an International Enterprise’, in Books without Borders, Robert Fraser and Mary Hammond (eds) (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pp. 67–88; and Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva, ‘Moda e literatura: o caso da revista A Estação’, Iara. Revista de Moda, Cultura e Arte, 2, 1 (2009), pp. 1–16, <www1.sp.senac.br/hotsites/blogs/revistaiara/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/07_IARA_vol2_n1_Artigo.pdf> [accessed 28 Jan. 2024]. On The Family, see Valéria Andrade Souto Maior, ‘Josefina Álvares de Azevedo: teatro e propaganda sufragista no Brasil do século XIX’. Revista Acervo Histórico, 2 (2004), pp. 65–82, <www.al.sp.gov.br/repositorio/bibliotecaDigital/525_arquivo.pdf> [accessed 28 Jan. 2024] and Constância Lima Duarte, ‘Feminismo: uma história a ser contada’, in Pensamento feminista brasileiro: formação e contexto, Heloisa Buarque de Hollanda (ed.) (Rio de Janeiro: Bazar do Tempo, 2019), pp. 25–47. A thorough examination indicated that these periodicals were
surprisingly diverse. There are those that were avowedly feminist; those that were avowedly conservative; those that are non-committal; those that are limited to pastimes; those that target certain segments, such as young women, mothers, teenagers, students; and those that are dedicated to specific themes: literature, education, politics, leisure, fashion and humour. There are also those that carry a little of everything within their pages: poetry, romance, riddles and militant writings.
6 Constância Lima Duarte, Imprensa feminina e feminista no Brasil. Século XIX. Dicionário Ilustrado (Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2017), pp. 22–23.Portuguese historiography likewise includes similar assessments of periodicals aimed at women, starting with
O Toucador (Lisbon, 1822), regarded as one of the earliest examples in this genre and edited by Almeida Garrett. In Portugal, there was also a notable diversity among contributors and, in terms of content, varying degrees of dedication to the struggle for rights emerge, gaining momentum as the twentieth century approached.
7 See Maria Ivone Leal, Um século de periódicos femininos (Lisbon: Comissão para a igualdade e os direitos das mulheres, 1992). Specific studies on noteworthy titles, such as
A Voz Feminina (Lisbon, 1868–69), which continued its circulation until late 1869 under the new title
O Progresso, with Francisca Wood at the helm, deserve particular attention.
O Progresso is recognised as one of the first in continental Europe to take a definitive stance on the topic of feminism,
8 See Cláudia Pazos-Alonso, Francisca Wood and Nineteenth-Century Culture. Pressing for change (Cambridge: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2022, v. 35); Cláudia Pazos-Alonso, Anticlericalismo e Feminismo na Imprensa Oitocentista. Os artigos de fundo de Francisca de Assis Martins Wood (Coimbra: Almedina, 2021); and Maria Isabel Moutinho Duarte Idelfonso, ‘As mulheres na imprensa periódica do século XIX. O jornal A Voz Feminina’ (unpublished master thesis, Universidade Aberta de Lisboa, 1998). and it is worth noting that Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho declined to collaborate with it.
9 On Carvalho see Teresa Salvador, ‘Em torno dos periódicos femininos’. Cultura. Revista de História e Teoria das Ideias, 26 (2009), 2ª série, p. 95. Salvador also presents a list of periodicals aimed at women, pp. 108–115. In addition to the reviews and analyses of specific titles, Ana Maria Costa Lopes’s work stands out for its comprehensive and nuanced examination of the entire nineteenth century in Portugal, making it an indispensable resource.
10 Ana Maria Costa Lopes, Imagens da mulher na imprensa feminina do Oitocentos. Percursos de Modernidade (Lisbon: Quimera, 2005). Despite the significance of these and various other contributions concerning women’s and the feminist press on both sides of the Atlantic, it is important to reaffirm that the uniqueness of the project that inspired this book lies in its focus on the contributions of women to a daily newspaper intended for the general public. The clear challenge was to understand how short stories and chronicles by female authors came to be included below and above the fold of a mass-circulation newspaper, without losing sight of the fact that this decision was guided by the commercial logic of boosting the number of subscriptions and single issue sales, in light of the modest but still growing female readership.
11 Délia also published the novel Angelina in the bas-de-page of the newspaper O País. See Maria Benedita Câmara Bormann (pseudonym Délia), Angelina, Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva, Javer Wilson Volpini, and Ana Cecilia Agua de Melo (eds) (Campinas: Asa da Palavra, 2024). On the other hand, the presence of female writers can also be taken as an indicator of the transformations that occurred in turn-of-the-century Brazilian society, offering additional attractions and complex elements to the newspaper’s informative content and to the predominantly male and patriarchal political positions and worldviews of its columnists. Considered the fourth power, the press exerts significant influence on society by framing the news that is brought to public attention. And, even if the supposed impartiality of
O País was more declared than real, the opening up of space in its pages for women to collaborate attests to the advances in freedom of expression in the late nineteenth-century Brazilian press.
O País systematically provided a platform for the voices of women writers (
lugar de fala)
12 Djamila Ribeiro, O que é lugar de fala? (Belo Horizonte: Letramento, 2017). to approach the female question from a variety of angles and with different techniques, without, however, proposing an open challenge to conventional norms. This was paid work, for which deadlines had to be met in line with the pace of the publications. It also demanded the ability to tackle all matter of themes and fit them into the available space, without forgetting the recommendations of the owners and directors in relation to the language and the degree of understanding of the target audience. These writers had to submit to the inherent duties of press journalism, a task that, if successfully performed, could open the doors of publishers interested in printing, in book format, chronicles, investigations, and fictional works that had already been subjected to the scrutiny of the periodical press readership, an instance that, if not dictating, at least significantly influenced the terms of cultural production. Directly confronting the established order and proposing transformative agendas were tasks left to the small press, mostly run by women who dared to challenge the dominant chorus.
13 Tania Regina de Luca and Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva, ‘A mulher jornalista na Belle Époque carioca’, in Mulheres no Brasil: como chegamos até aqui, C. Facchinetti (ed.) (Rio de Janeiro: Andrea Jakobsson Estúdio, 2023), pp. 17–37.