As multifacetas de Sylvia Serafim: uma disputa na imprensa em torno de uma intelectual esquecida

Abstract

On December 26, 1929, motivated by a front-page article that accused her of adultery, journalist and writer Sylvia Serafim shot Roberto Rodrigues, illustrator for the newspaper Crítica and brother of Nelson Rodrigues, in a homicide that shocked and divided Carioca society. The story of Roberto's murder was stransformed into books, plays, films, and television programs, explored by various media in diverse formats. As these narratives migrate, they acquire new, often contradictory nuances through a process of division that began immediately after the attack. The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the capture that Sylvia Serafim due to political, social, and economic disputes that transcended her time and continue to this day, as well as to explore the construction of her dehumanized image. In other words, as summarized in the title itself, this study aims to examine the many faces of Serafim, from her writings to the writings about her, viewing her not only as an assassin, as History did, but also as an intellectual, journalist, writer, and feminist. This division generated a dispute over her image that started in the press and persists today, hence the necessity of this work also looking into the appropriation of her figure in both contemporary and historical newspapers, as well as on social media. Consequently, Serafim’s intellectual output was erased, forgotten in history despite her relevance at the time. In order to highlight this multiplicity of Sylvia Serafim, her journalistic materials were also analyzed. Thus, it is possible to rescue her story and highlight the social and political mechanisms that marginalized her, as well as examine the lasting impact of sensationalism on her image. Through archival research and in dialogue with a theoretical framework on History of Journalism and processes of dehumanization, it was possible to provide less manichean and more comprehensive views, exploring unknown paths of an intellectual remembered solely for her homicide. By exploring this narrative, the aim is not only to provide a historical reinterpretation but also to reflect on the dynamics of power and gender, particularly in the press.