From the body to herself: unfoldings of the feminine being in A Rainha do Ignoto (1899), by Emília Freitas

Abstract

The nineteenth-century literary tradition, from a male perspective, defined an image for women. This image was fixed in two archetypes: angel and demon. However, some female writers managed to break away from this representation of women in literature, although often through subtle narrative strategies that concealed the underlying criticism. This is the case of the writer from Ceará, Emília Freitas, in her novel A Rainha do Ignoto (1899). To circumvent censorship, the writer constructs in her work a narrative that follows conventional parameters and another that subverts them. The tension between breaking with and maintaining tradition is mitigated by another narrative strategy, the use of supernatural resources. Thus, through these resources, the writer subverts the conception of women in late 19th century Brazil by creating an insular space, hidden from the rest of the world, where women held leadership roles in all spheres and possessed mystical powers. Furthermore, outside of the utopian island – in the space governed by the dominant male order – in order to play roles denied to women, the protagonist had the power to transform herself into anyone. Thus, this article will present the paradigm shift in the configuration of the female character, in confrontation with literary tradition, in the novel by Emília Freitas, based mainly on the studies of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (1998).