.
Maria Firmina dos Reis; History and literature; Women’s history; Abolitionist literature; Literary space.
Maria Firmina dos Reis was a writer, teacher and composer from Maranhão (1825-1917). Her first published work, Úrsula (1859) is considered the first abolitionist novel from Brazil. This work aims to investigate the space of memories in the Maria Firmina dos Reis’ literature. For this, the present research investigates the context in which the author lived: Maranhão in the 19th century and the space occupied by her in literature and the press. This work relates Firmina dos Reis' experiences as a black woman with the construction of her literary space with the objective of analyzing the black and female protagonism in her works. The main sources listed for this investigation are the novel Úrsula (1859) and the short stories A escrava (1887) and Gupeva (1861). As sources of comparison are used the 19th century Maranhão newspapers. This research looks the literature as a space for Firmina dos Reis' memories by the concepts of Aleida Assmann, Jacques Le Goff, Maurice Blanchot and Michel de Certeau. This work consider the space built through writing as a place for the subject to act in which her experiences overflow in literary representations too. Conceição Evaristo and Jacques Derrida think this system of representations linked to the subject’s experiences and their contributions are relevant to this work. This research also thinks the literature as a political space based on the considerations of Rene Rémond, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It seeks to understand how Firmina dos Reis represents 19h century society in her literature, especially with regard to women and black people, as well as the possible criticisms that may arise from her plots, in view of her condition as a black woman in Brazil in the 19th century.