Domestic Servants in Literature and Testimony in Brazil, 1889-1999 [Hardcover]

Drawing from a variety of historical sources, theory, and fictional and non-fictional production, this book addresses the cultural imaginary of domestic servants in modern Brazil and demonstrates maids' symbolic centrality to shifting notions of servitude, subordination, femininity, and domesticity.Introduction - The Burdened Legacy of Domestic Servitude in Brazil 1. J?lia's Maids: Servants in the Cultural Imaginary of the Tropical Belle ?poque 2. 'My Ol' Black Mammy': Childhood Maids in Brazilian Modernist Memoirs 3. 'How to Treat a Maid?': Misencounters with Servants in Clarice Lispector's 4. Writers in Aprons: Brazilian Servants' Testimonios

The new English-language edition is substantiallyexpanded, especially in the general introduction and at the start of eachchapter, to provide additional theoretical grounding and context for aninternational audience. & This new edition makes the work fully accessible andrelevant to Latin Americanist scholars with limited knowledge of Brazil and thePortuguese language, but it will also be extremely valuable for specialists inBrazil, particularly those concerned with interracial and class relationships,labor history, and womens writing. (Katherine Ostrom, Letras Femeninas, Vol.41 (1), December, 2015)

S?nia Roncador is Associate Professor of Brazilian Literature and Culture in Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The University of Texas at Austin, USA.