The voluntary death in Medicine and Literature of Rio de Janeiro (1835-1895)

• Grant number: 15/01094-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2015
• End date: October 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Jean Marcel Carvalho França
• Grantee: Davi Machado da Rocha
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

From the mid 30 and throughout the nineteenth century, the problem of voluntary death filled many pages of newspapers and periodicals that circulated in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Recurring suicides of slaves, women, traders and other actors of Rio de Janeiro society motivated varied reflections among Brazilian intellectuals who tried to explain and address the causes of this phenomenon that contradicted the will of God and human nature. These reflections will be the subject of study of this research, which examines the form of description of the phenomenon of voluntary death, from 1835 to 1895, from two speeches: the Medicine and Literature. In this period, with the creation of the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro (1832) and the development of a literature concerned with the moral education and formation of the reading public, there is a regular production of medical theses, news, chronicles and novels denounced the recurrence of suicides and attempted to demarcate the behaviors and social determinations that were focused on this practice, such as madness, gambling, financial breakdowns, the disorderly passions, unbelief among other expressions of vices that became corrupt society with the advent of modern urban life. In this sense, the hypothesis that guides this research is that Medicine and Literature, to the extent that the shared interest in building Brazil in modern, urban and civilized terms, understood the voluntary death as a problem of moral order, which should be contained within the passions and customs through education. Thus, these speeches have acquired a prescriptive character of Rio de Janeiro social life, bringing up the values and meanings constructed by the society to guide the lives of its members. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

ROCHA, Davi Machado da. The suicide in the medicine and in the literature of Rio de Janeiro (1835-1895). 2016. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Franca Franca.