A entrada de Rachel de Queiroz na Academia Brasileira de Letras: uma reconstituição jornalística da primeira imortalidade feminina

Abstract

This article presents a reconstruction of Rachel de Queiroz's entry into the Brazilian Academy of Letters. The novelist from Ceará was the first woman to achieve immortality. We conducted extensive research of newspapers and magazines published in 1977 and collected several notes, news, reports, and interviews that showed a great interest of the press in this unprecedented and long-awaited event. In addition to journalistic documentation, our analysis included bibliographic sources, letters, and other records that helped us identify broad political and ideological support to Rachel as a candidate for Chair 5 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters: Geisel (1977), Médici (1977), Lacerda (2007), and Fanini (2009; 2010). By revealing the circumstances under which the code was changed, the influential friendships of the writer at the institution, the support of the immortals for her nomination, and the undeniable recognition given to her literary production, we show why she was the only female figure at the time who could attain such academic glory.