The path of Alencar in the literary context of the 19th century: a look at the pages of Como e porque sou romancista

Abstract

José de Alencar’s Como e Porque Sou um Romancista can be considered the first copy of an autobiography written in Brazil, as it is a confessional narrative in which the author demonstrates the intention to (re) build his trajectory as a novelist and, in a more veiled way, to respond to the criticism he had been receiving. Thus, in this article, we intend to verify how the author uses an autobiographical account in the scenario in which he is inserted, that is, in the second half of the 19th century, considering, mainly, that the genre in question was disowned at that time.