The novels of the Empress: presence of fictional books in the library of Empress Teresa Cristina Maria

• Grant number: 13/17187-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Azevedo de Abreu
• Grantee: Larissa de Assumpção
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/07342-9 - The transatlantic circulation of printed matter: the globalisation of culture in the 19th Century, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/25104-6 - Books about the organization of libraries in the nineteenth century, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

This project aims to analyze the novels read by Empress Teresa Cristina, wife of Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil. The corpus consists of the Collection Teresa Cristina, located at the National Library of Rio de Janeiro, and of the diary of the Empress, kept by the Imperial Museum of Petrópolis. In these sources, we aim to identify the titles of the novels read by the Empress and to look for notes (either in the books or in her diary) in order to understand the relationship kept by the Empress with the books and, in particular, with the novels. The similarities or differences between her personal collection and the novels of largest circulation in the 19th century will be object of analysis. The Collection also contains photos of the Empress, her family and her acquaintances. Pictures of people with books will be analyzed in order to understand the importance given to books and the relationship with them maintained by the imperial family. (AU)