Conclusion
One may consider the success of Mária Amália Vaz de Carvalho as the result of a difficult balance. She was able to assert herself in Brazilian and Portuguese literary circles, not an easy task at a time when writing was, in principle, a forbidden activity for women. It is true that she respected social conventions in her personal life and, no less importantly, she chose themes and approaches that, while challenging the established order, never exceeded the limits of the acceptable. It is significant that the praise she received from her colleagues was not based on her intellectual qualities, but rather on her humble attitude, personal virtues and the topics she broached.
While it seems clear that Maria Amália did not challenge the established social protocols, nor did she side with those who defended the affirmative presence of women, as militant feminism advocated, calling for political rights and equal opportunities; she nevertheless did not fail to deal with burning issues, such as women’s education and paid work. One may argue that she did so without questioning the prevalent values, which helps explain her favourable reception in an intellectual world dominated by male voices and rooted in the supposed inferiority of the female physiology, which, as maintained by the biological determinism in vogue at the time, was physically, morally, and psychologically fragile. However, Carvalho undeniably gained recognition and exposure in the public arena and, although her voice joined the dominant chorus, defending moral, religious, and sentimental values, her positions were based on refined analyses and spoke to a highly diverse repertoire of references, which, in itself, called into question the alleged intellectual inferiority of women. Not by chance, she endeavoured to nurture the aura of a cultured and erudite writer, capable of expertly tackling a wide variety of subjects
Although it is not possible to gauge the reception of her texts among the O País subscribers, it is important to underline the importance of a woman occupying the pages of one of Brazil’s leading newspapers for years on end, with a column that had a clear informative intent, and that distanced itself from the playful contributions usually associated with women’s reading and writing. Carvalho appeared in the public arena with a personal voice, despite siding with the prevalent values of the time. Another aspect to be considered is her role as an agent for the circulation of cultural goods between the two sides of the Atlantic. Her columns in O País, a mass-circulated newspaper in a slavery-based, patriarchal society, were distinguished by their erudition and informed knowledge. Her texts were vectors for circulating and disseminating myriad figures, authors, works, theatrical performances, not only cited, but critically reviewed, constituting a work of cultural mediation that remains largely unexamined by students of her production. Drawing on a broad cultural universe, she engaged in debates and defended her positions, in a context that offered the technical means to swiftly convey of information, especially through the press.
Despite the positions Carvalho championed in the face of a rapidly changing world, and her attempts to reconcile the irreconcilable, she exposed the mismatch between the status quo and the promises that were presenting themselves for women. It would be no exaggeration to purport that the chronicles published in Brazilian newspapers fuelled and expanded the readers’ imaginations, opening up new horizons and geographies in the mind, raising issues regarding uncertainties brought by the project of modernity, and represented a form of social intervention and political action. Bear in mind that the readers are not passive sponges, they are not obliged to subscribe to the ideas presented, but rather construct their own itineraries between their own world and that of the text. Importantly, Carvalho’s contributions might suggest or materialise new perspectives, perceptions and readings of everyday life for those who followed her column.