In struggle

The work of the chronicler Carmen Dolores in debates for the rights of Brazilian women in early republican times

Abstract

This article analyzes the works of the writer Carmen Dolores – pseudonym of Emília Moncorvo Bandeira de Mello – in debates in regard to the rights of Brazilian women in early times of the Brazilian republic, using chronicles published in the Rio de Janeiro newspaper O Paiz as a privileged documentary base and in the book “Ao esvoaçar da ideia”, between 1905 and 1910. In a dialogue between cultural history and the history of intellectuals, the study focuses on the role of the author, known as a producer of cultural wealth in her literary work involving diverse genres, also as a cultural mediator, mainly exercised in the press, through her regular work as a chronicler. Thus, while commenting on light and varied subjects in her columns, she sought to enhance the awareness of readers in general, femail readers and society, in a broader sense, in favor of feminism, education and work, in the area of women’s rights, and in defense of divorce, in the direction of what she understood as social progress.