Senhora: Profile of a Woman

by José de Alencar, Catarina Feldmann Edinger (Translator)

Overview

"It is a truth universally acknowledged . . ." that a single woman in possession of a good character but no fortune must be in want of a wealthy husband—that is, if she is the heroine of a nineteenth-century novel. Senhora, by contrast, turns the tables on this familiar plot. Its strong-willed, independent heroine Aurélia uses newly inherited wealth to "buy back" and exact revenge on the fiancé who had left her for a woman with a more enticing dowry.

This exciting Brazilian novel, originally published in 1875 and here translated into English for the first time, raises many questions about traditional gender relationships, the commercial nature of marriage, and the institution of the dowry. While conventional marital roles triumph in the end, the novel still offers realistic insights into the social and economic structure of Rio de Janeiro in the mid-1800s. With its unexpected plot, it also opens important new perspectives on the nineteenth-century Romantic novel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292704503
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	03/01/1994
Series:	Texas Pan American Series
Pages:	219
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

José de Alencar (1829–1877) was a noted Brazilian novelist.

Catarina Feldmann Edinger (1944–2006) translated many works from Portuguese; she taught at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
To the Reader
First Part: The Price
Second Part: Redress
Third Part: Possession
Fourth Part: Ransom
 

What People are Saying About This

Daphne Patai

"...an extremely important novel...quite startling in its revelations of money and gender as key social mechanisms in 19th-century Brazillian life."