Mulheres no espelho: Maria Peregrina de Sousa, Guiomar Torresão, Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho na prosa de ficção oitocentista portuguesa

Abstract

This research aims to re-evaluate the works of three Portuguese writers from the second half of the 19th century, within the socio-political framework of that time. From the examination of three books - Radamanto (1863), by Maria Peregrina de Sousa; Uma alma de mulher (1869), by Guiomar Torresão, and Serões no campo (1877), by Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho - the objective is to understand how these women joined the literary field, how they thought about themselves and the society in which they lived and, finally, to demonstrate the presence of a mark of female authorship in their texts. Maria Peregrina de Sousa develops a deep critique of the power of appearance and reveals her perspective on issues such as social inequality, marriage, and motherhood. The reader's attention is drawn to Peregrina's ability to build female characters and the denunciation, through them, of social corsets. Guiomar Torresão, under a typically impossible love story, brings important reflections not only on the field of affection, but also on a society in transformation, composed of class and gender conflicts. At last, Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho, in three apparently moralistic narratives, deals with the confrontation between reason and faith, the clashes between Romanticism and Realism, the roles of women, the right to education, the class struggle. As they move from objects to literary subjects, these writers present their own vision of the complex and varied themes of the time, recasting the legacy of their predecessors and opening new possibilities for their successors