[RETRACTED ARTICLE] The World of Life and the World of the Text on Ursula by Maria Firmina dos Reis

Abstract

The novel Ursula, by Maria Firmina dos Reis, had its first publication in 1859. It reveals the magnitude of two aspects: the first, for being the first novel by an afro-descendant’s authorship in Brazilian literature; the second is that it was also the first abolitionist novel written in Brazil. In it, Maria Firmina dos Reis makes of the literary written a voice stage of her ancestors, in which the enslaved individuals themselves portray under their own views the issue of slavery, from their homeland to the route to get to Brazil. Thus, the writing of Maria Firmina dos Reis sets textually a slave owner and patriarchal tradition, marked by stigma and social subordination of the Afro-Brazilian communities and in consequent, their muting for centuries. Considering these aspects, our analysis will have as a background the ricoeurian distinction of the world of the text and the world of the life, as well as the notion of the world and the reader in this novel, from the discussions proposed by Antoine Compagnon in O demônio da teoria. Therefore, our work will focus on the analysis of the novel from these conceptualizations.