JÚLIA LOPES DE ALMEIDA: THE POSSIBLE SUBVERSION IN MEMÓRIAS DE MARTA

Abstract

Júlia Lopes de Almeida (1862-1934) had a great literary performance in her time. Her origins made her performance possible since she belonged to a family that offered her a good educational background, including part of it in Portugal. The writer belonged to her time but was not limited to it. In addition to being a daughter, a wife, and a dedicated mother — roles attributed and almost exclusive to women from the richest families of her time — she also played a relevant role in literature, and gained recognition in life. Even so, as it happened with other Brazilian writers in the past, she was also forgotten after her death, gradually returning to the literary field. Among her books, Memórias de Marta (1888) [Martha’s Memory] stands out. In this novel, the writer presents the character Marta in her search for education and a job that would guarantee her and her widowed mother’s livelihood not disregarding the morals of the time and, thus, considering marriage as a guarantee of security. By the context of the time, it is possible to affirm that Júlia Lopes de Almeida ran the risk of being “punished” for writing such book as her being almost forgotten in the best-known history books of Brazilian literature perhaps demonstrates.