MARIA FIRMINA DOS REIS BEYOND THE GAGS:

TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NOVEL ÚRSULA

Abstract

After a brief reflection on the importance of editing in the survival and circulation of literary works, we turn to the case of the novel Úrsula, by Maria Firmina dos Reis. The biography of this authoress — poor, black and woman —, struggling to establish herself as an important intellectual reference in the second half of the 19th century, in an aristocratic, patriarchal and slavocratic Brazil, indicates to what extent the fate of the works is linked to the social position of their authors. Revisiting Úrsula’s “rediscovery” process at the end of the 20th century, we propose the comparison of a recent electronic edition with the facsimile version of the editio princeps in order to find the critical places and understand the intricacies of its editing and updating process. We conclude suggesting the textual problems that works such as that of Maria Firmina dos Reis have been facing due to the eagerness of those who have the noble purpose of disseminating them, even though they do not always have the necessary academic training to do so in accordance with the most basic principles of textual criticism