One Hundred Years after Tomorrow: Brazilian Women's Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Carmen Dolores / A Drama in the Countryside (1907)

Carmen Dolores Carmen Dolores was the preferred pen name of Emilia Moncorvo Bandeira de Melo (1852-1910), who also published under the pseudonyms Julia de Castro and Leonel Sampaio. Historians are divided on her place of birth-Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro-but she lived in Rio and was a regular contributor to the newspapers Correio da Manhd and 0 Pais. Writing at the tum of the century, Dolores was perhaps best known for her cronicas, or short commentaries on Brazilian life, which appeared in her weekly column in 0 Pals. In 1910, a collection of these writings was published (Ao Bsvoacar da Ideia [On the Fluttering of an Idea]), documenting her sustained interest in women's rights. In her crtmicas, she advocated changing the law to allow divorce in Brazil, and she wrote passionately about equal rights-especially educational reform and the institution of fair wage legislation. Dolores also wrote several volumes of short fiction and a novel, A Luta (The Struggle), which appeared shortly after her death in 1911. Her fiction tends to focus on middle-class women in urban Brazil, and her first book, a collection of short stories entitled Gradacoes (1897) (Gradations ), explored women's largely dependent relationships with men. The title story of her second volume, Um Drama na Roca (1907) (A Drama in the Countryside), which I have selected for translation, is slightly unusual. Dolores shifts her focus from the urban bourgeoisie to the provincial middle class. She is especially adept at portraying the traditions and mores of rural Brazil, and, as in her stories about the city, she underscores the centrality of courtship and marriage in the lives of women. 13 A Drama in the Countryside (1907) On that Sunday, the village of---awoke in celebration to the crackling of fireworks and the clanging of bells coming from the little white church at the top of the hill. No wonder! The month of Mary was coming to a close; there was going to be a mass sung, an auction of handicrafts and foods, a fireworks display, a dance in the main hall of the Municipal Council building, and everywhere people bustled about in great confusion. Already at ten o'clock that morning, Commander Jose Domingu.es, an important festival-goer, was climbing the steep, rocky hillside bathed in sun; worn out, apoplectic, he stopped from time to time to rest, saying to his wife in gasping, broken sentences: "Look at those girls, Leopoldina.... Call out to them to walk more slowly...." Gazing up toward the top of the hill, where two little shadows moved along protected by a single straw hat, Dona Leopoldina shouted with all the force she could muster: "Guilhermina! Laura! ... wait right there.... Why all the hurry? ..." Reddened by fatigue and the heat, Dona Leopoldina's double chin unfolded onto a wide lace collar, where a gold brooch with the picture of the commander shone, and the body of her dark blue, grosgrain gown, which seemed about to explode, outlined in relief the enormous bust of a matron more accustomed to wide housedresses than to corseted party gowns. Quickly waving in response to their mother's call, Guilhermina and Laura continued their ascent, and so engrossed were they in their conversation that they didn't even notice other groups who, passing by them in the same direction, greeted them with an affectionate "Good morning!" Guilhermina, who was older, tall and spindly, with a pensive look on her gaunt face, seemed to listen as if in a trance as the shorter, blond, freckle-faced and petulant Laura spoke vehemently: "I swear I'll do it, I swear. . . . If they continue like that, I'll let everybody know, even if it does cause a scandal. . . ." 14 A Drama in the Countryside 15 "But what do you gain from that? . . . Then everything will be ruined." "So be it! But if I'm to be disgraced as you were, I'll make sure to avenge myself first.... Oh, she'll see what I'm made of...." A group of young women interrupted their dialogue with embraces, kisses, exclamations, and news about the festivities: they were making their way up the hillside and joined the two sisters, who were now nearing the church square, where, since early morning, mobs of people had been waiting to enter the church. A giant, thatch-topped tent was open at the side in preparation for the...