JOÃO DO RIO E AS RELAÇÕES DE PODER NAS TRANSFERÊNCIAS CULTURAIS DA BELLE ÉPOQUE BRASILEIRA

Abstract

The article examines the intellectual trajectory of Joao do Rio, Paulo Barreto’s pseudonym, through deep study of his private library. The investigation includes the consultation of some of the author’s personal and professional writings, in which records of reading experiences are often found. This study made it possible to map cultural transfers (COOPER-RICHET; GUIMARAES, 2012) through the intense circulation and dissemination of books and comments concerning foreign countries, which can be found in the century’s chronicles. In this context, the results help to understand both the power relationships in cultural contacts between Brazil and Portugal, questioning the idea that only Brazilian culture was influenced by European culture, and the two-way transit of cultural productions. However, the analysis of the controversies involving Joao do Rio, related to his defense of Portugal as Brazil’s sister country, reveals the asymmetry of transfers in the power relationships between the two cultures.