Por mãos inábeis: cultura escrita e tradição epistolar em Pernambuco novecentista

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate and reflect on the practice of writing by examining a corpus of past synchronicity consisting of 50 letters written by a couple from Pernambuco during the first half of the 20th century. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on: (i) reconstructing the socio-cultural writer’s profile, based on a combination of their memories, recorded in an interview, and information gathered from the letters themselves; (ii) the tradition of personal letter writing, by observing the structure and themes in the letters written by them; and (iii) characterizing the level of skill by investigating the writing production of the Pernambuco correspondents. Under the theoretical-methodological framework of the Social History of Written Culture (Petrucci, 1978, 2003; Martínez, 1988; Castillo Gómez and Sáez, 2016; Castilho Gómez, 2020), with respect to the characterization of the writers' handwriting (Marquilhas, 2000; Santiago, 2012; 2019), and the Discourse Tradition Model (Koch, 1997; Kabatek, 2004, 2006; 2012; Longhin, 2014), the results indicate that the corpus is representative of the practice of writing love letters. It reveals that the theme of love takes on nuances and contributes to the complexity and depth of the emotional experiences between N (the bride) and Z (the groom), while also showing that structural elements transcend time through their socio-communicative function. Although both correspondents exhibit dimensions of inadequacy with writing, their letters also reveal the ability to compose love letters, understood as a cultural tradition. This demonstrates that the practice of letter writing is not merely individual but a historically constructed cultural heritage that meets social demands related to romantic communication through written correspondence. Therefore, the research contributes to discussions in both the field of Social History of Written Culture and the Discourse Tradition Model by presenting significant data on Pernambuco writers who were unskilled in producing love letters in the first half of the 20th century.