The novels read by Maria Francisca Benedita (1746-1829) and D. Carlota Joaquina (1775-1830)

• Grant number: 15/21639-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: August 01, 2016
• End date: July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Other Vernacular Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Azevedo de Abreu
• Grantee: Moizeis Sobreira de Sousa
• Supervisor: Vanda Maria Coutinho Garrido Anastacio
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/23370-0 - The presence of novels in women's libraries of the Portuguese Royal Family, BP.PD

Abstract

This project aims to find the books contained in the catalogues of libraries Princess Maria Francisca Benedita (1746-1829) and Queen Carlota Joaquina (1775-1830). Those documents were written in 1831 at the Biblioteca da Ajuda (Library of Ajuda) and contains an amount of data about the libraries of these women, namely: the titles, volume and issue date of the books. However, they have some gaps. They do not allow, for example, to identify the kind of all the listed books. From the data that these catalogues allow to discover that the novel has a very significant presence in these libraries. However, they do not allow, by itself, determine the relationship that these women had with their books, more specifically with the novels: which effectively read and which only possessed and what role this genre held in the constitution of these collections. To try to get this information, it is essential to have access to the books contained in these catalogues. Moreover, it is necessary to seek other sources to help elucidate the relationship of these women with their libraries and the reading of the novel, such as letters, diaries and notes. This project proposes to carry out a research internship in Portugal, to be development at the University of Lisbon and in the Ajuda Library, where are keep the collections of libraries of Maria Francisca Benedicta and D. Carlota Joaquina, and also in the Torre do Tombo and National Library of Lisbon, depository of letters and personal documents of these women.