This exciting Brazilian novel, originally published in 1875 and here translated into English for the first time, raises many questions about traditional gender relationships, the commercial nature of marriage, and the institution of the dowry. While conventional marital roles triumph in the end, the novel still offers realistic insights into the social and economic structure of Rio de Janeiro in the mid-1800s. With its unexpected plot, it also opens important new perspectives on the nineteenth-century Romantic novel.
A journalist and politician, José de Alencar (1829-1877) is considered the father of Brazilian literature. He was the author of twenty novels and six plays.
Translator Catarina Feldmann Edinger is an associate professor of English at the William Paterson College of New Jersey.