Telegraphy and the modernization of the press in Machado de Assis's chronicles

Authors

  • Jussara Menezes Quadros Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Unirio)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-3729.2013.3.14249

Keywords:

Machado de Assis, Chronicles, Telegraphy, 19th century, Literature and Technology

Abstract

 The article analyses Machado de Assis’s (1839-1908) critical view on telegraphy and his resistance to the emergence of telegraphic information as a new paradigm for journalistic discourse. In 1875, only a year after the inauguration of the transatlantic submarine cable, the Havas-Reuter news agency opened its offices in Brazil, both events signaling the moment of Brazil’s incorporation in the global networks of telegraphic communication. Machado de Assis’s chronicles, published in the 1870s-1890s, show that the technological modernization of the press was controversial, threatening to destabilize the close ties between literature and journalism. Machado’s ironic invectives against the Havas agency reveal his commitment to the politics of the local press, in opposition to the accelerated internationalization of the news market in the second half of the 19th century.

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Author Biography

Jussara Menezes Quadros, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Unirio)

Professora de Literatura Brasileira da Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). Doutora em Teoria Literária (Unicamp). Foi Professora Assistente de Estudos Brasileiros na Universidade de Princeton de 2000 a 2009.

References

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Published

2014-01-14

How to Cite

Quadros, J. M. (2014). Telegraphy and the modernization of the press in Machado de Assis’s chronicles. Revista FAMECOS, 20(3), 756–775. https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-3729.2013.3.14249

Issue

Section

Journalism