Os usos políticos das biografias históricas na primeira década da República: monarquistas e republicanos no “deserto do esquecimento”

Abstract

The present work intends to analyze the use of historical biography as a tool for political and intellectual intervention during the first decade of the Brazilian Republic. The research adopts a comparative approach centered on two works published in that period: Um estadista do Império (1897–1899), by Joaquim Nabuco, and Benjamin Constant: esboço de uma apreciação sintética (1892–1894), by Raimundo Teixeira Mendes. Drawing on the framework of intellectual history, the investigation seeks to understand how these authors employed the biographical genre to engage in debates about the imperial past, the new republican regime, and the competing nation-building projects. In addition to the internal analysis of the works—regarding narrative, sources, structure, and intent—the study also considers the networks of sociability, spaces of consecration, and the mechanisms of circulation and reception of historical production in the period, with special attention to institutions such as the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute (IHGB), the Revista Brasileira, and the newly founded Brazilian Academy of Letters. Through this analysis, the study aims to shed light on the connections between memory, politics, and historiography in the transitional context between Empire and Republic.