THE TRAGEDY OF ICARAY IN THE PAGES OF THE PRESS OF RIO DE JANEIRO (1912-1916): JOÃO PEREIRA BARRETO AND THE FEMININE CONDITION

• Grant number: 23/01594-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Edilene Teresinha Toledo
• Grantee: Cássila das Neves Ribeiro da Silva
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

On December 3, 1912, the rising journalist and poet João Pereira Barreto murdered his wife, Annita Levy, who was a few months pregnant. The case became known as the "Icarahy Tragedy", and gained great repercussions in the Rio de Janeiro press. This research project aims to analyze the case of uxoricide through the news, between 1912 and 1916 - the period concerning the crime and the three trials -, from the newspapers A Epoca, A Imprensa, A Noite, Correio da Manhã and O Paiz. Considering that the murder of a woman resulted in the acquittal of the accused, this research allows for a reasoned discussion about the female condition in the First Republic, providing a satisfactory explanation of the poet's acquittal. To carry out this investigation, it is essential to understand the symbolic power (Bourdieu) with which male domination is endowed and how much the media are capable of producing the concrete reality (Capelato and Williams) experienced by individuals in a society.