CEZAR, TemÃstocles. Varnhagen in movement: a brief anthology of an existence.Translated byEoin Paul O'Neill. Topoi [online]. 2007, vol.3Selected edition, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1518-3319.
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2 BARTHES, Roland. Michelet, Paris, Seuil, 1995, pp. 22-23. [ Links ] 3 The biographies of Varnhagen are not numerous, and those that do exist, in addition to being repetitive, are generally speaking, laudatory. The most complete work and richest in terms of information, albeit acritical in relation to the Varnhagenian opus is that of Clado Lessa, see Revista do IHGB, Volumes 223, 1954, pp. 82-297; 224, 1954, pp. 109-315; 225, 1954, pp. 120-293; 226, 1955, pp. 3-168; 227, 1955, pp. 85-236. On the other hand, Varnhagen has many commentators, commencing with Capistrano de Abreu whose articles are fundamental for this essay: "Necrologio de Francisco Adolpho de Varnhagen, Viscount de Porto Seguro", and "Sobre o Viscount de Porto Seguro (1882)", apud VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Historia geral do Brasil, 3rd/4th edition, SP, Melhoramentos, 1928, respectively Book tomo I, pp. 502-508 and Appendix pp. 435-444. This edition, organized and commented by Capistrano de Abreu and Rodolfo Garcia, reproduced the second edition of the 1877 Historia geral do Brazil de 1877. (From here on HGB, only specifying the volume, edition and year). The following list, though not exhaustive, is significant of the interest that the work of the historian has provoked in recent decades: RODRIGUES, José Honório. "Varnhagen, mestre da historia geral do Brasil", Revista do IHGB, 1967, pp. 170-196; [ Links ] SCHWARTZ, Stuart B. "Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen: diplomat, patriot, historian", The Hispanic American Historical Review, May, 1967, Vol. XLVII, no. 2, pp. 185-202; [ Links ] ODÁLIA, Nilo. "Introdução", Varnhagen, SP, Ática, 1979, pp. 7-31; [ Links ] ODÁLIA, Nilo. As formas do mesmo. Ensaios sobre o pensamento historiográfico de Varnhagen e Oliveira Vianna, SP, Edunesp, 1997; [ Links ] MARTINIÈRE, Guy. "Problèmes du développement de l'historiographie brésilienne", Storia della storiografia, Milan, 19, 1991, pp. 117-146; [ Links ] SCHAPOCHNIK, Nelson. Letras de fundação: Varnhagen e Alencar – projetos de narrativa instituinte, Masters Thesis, PPG in Social History, USP, 1992, 245p. [ Links ] ; VASQUEZ, George L. "Varnhagen, Francisco Adolfo de. (1816-1878)", WOOLF, D. R. (editor), A global encyclopedia of historical writing, vol. II, New York and London, Garland Publishing, 1998, p. 917; [ Links ] AMBROSIO, Ubiratan. "Varnhagen, Francisco Adolfo de. – 1816-1878: Brazilian historian", BOYD, Kelly. (ed.) Encyclopedia of historians and historical writing, vol. 2, London/Chicago, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999, pp. 1253-1254; [ Links ] REIS, J. C. "Varnhagen (1853-7): O elogio da colonização portuguesa", Varia historia, Belo Horizonte, no. 17, Mar/1997, pp. 106-131, [ Links ] reproduced in REIS, J. C. "Ano 1850: Varnhagen. O elogio da colonização portuguesa", As identidades do Brasil. De Varnhagen a FHC, RJ, 1999, pp. 23-50; [ Links ] WEHLING, A. Estado, history e memória: Varnhagen e a construção da identidade nacional, RJ, Nova Fronteira, 1999; [ Links ] GUIMARÃES, Lúcia Paschoal. "Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen. Historia geral do Brasil", MOTA, Lourenço Dantas. Introdução ao Brasil. Um banquete no trópico, SP, SENAC, 2001, pp. 75-96; [ Links ] PUNTONI, Pedro. "O Sr. Varnhagen e o patriotismo caboclo: o indígena e o indianismo perante a historiography brasileira", JANCSÓ, István. (org.) Brasil: formação do Estado e da Nação, SP-Ijuí, Hucitec/EdUnijuí, 2003, pp. 633-675. [ Links ] 4 The idea of a movement within a work appeared to me from reading Starobinski's excellent essay about Montainge, see STAROBISNKI, Jean. Montaigne en mouvement, Paris, Gallimard, 1982, p. 8. [ Links ] 5 VARNHAGEN, F. A. L'Origine Touranienne des Américains Tupis-Caribes et des Anciens Egyptiens. Indiquée principalement par la philologie comparée: traces d'une ancienne migration en Amérique, invasion du Brésil par les Tupis, etc., Vienne, Librairie I. and R. de Faesy & Frick, 1876, p. XIV. [ Links ] 8 FREYRE, G. Casa grande e senzala, RJ, José Olympio, 5th ed. no. 107, p. 466. [ Links ] 9 Ver KRIEGEL, Blandine. Les historiens et la monarchie. II. La défaite de l'érudition, Paris, PUF, 1998, [ Links ] e GRELL, Chantal. L'histoire entre érudition et philosophie. Étude sur la connaissance historique à l'âge des lumières, Paris, PUF, 1993. [ Links ] For the Brazilian case, see: GUIMARÃES, Manoel Salgado. "Reinventando a tradição: sobre antiquariado e escrita da historia", Humanas, Dossiê Historiography e tradição clássica, Revista do IFCH/UFRGS, 2000, pp. 111-143, [ Links ] 11 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Historia das luctas com os Hollandezes no Brazil, desde 1624 a 1654, Vienna, Finsterback, 1871, p. XXV. [ Links ] 12 ARENDT, Hannah. "The concept of history", Between past and future. London, Faber and Faber, 1961, sobretudo pp. 51-52. [ Links ] 18 In relation to the collaboration of Varnhagen in the Panorama, see MOREIRA, Thiers. "Varnhagen e a historia da literatura portuguesa e brasileira", Revista do IHGB, 1967, pp. 155-169. [ Links ] For Alexandre Herculano and Portuguese romanticism, see CATROGA, Fernando. "Alexandre Herculano e o historicismo romântico", História da história de Portugal, séculos XIX-XX, Lisboa, Temas e Debates, 1998, pp. 45-98. [ Links ] 19 BARTHES, R. "Aujourd'hui, Michelet", Le bruissement de la langue, Paris, Seuil, 1984, pp. 244-245. [ Links ] 20 Luiz Costa Lima sought to remedy the absence of a reflection on the subject in his book: Historia. Ficção. Literatura, São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 2006. [ Links ] 21 These authors' criticisms of Varnhagen's style, can be found in: ABREU, Capistrano de., op. cit., 1878, p. 506, e op. cit., 1882, p. 441; VERISSIMO, José. Historia da literatura brasileira (1915), RJ, José Olympio, 1954, p. 193; [ Links ] ARARIPE, Tristão de Alencar."Indicações sobre a Historia Nacional", Revista do IHGB, 1894, pp. 288-289; [ Links ] OLIVEIRA LIMA, Manuel. "Elogio de Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, Viscount de Porto Seguro (1903)", Revista de Portugal, 222, 1964, pp. 132-133. [ Links ] 22 "Those who are not Michelet do what they can. They divide the work between themselves", PÉGUY, Charles. "De la situation faite à l'histoire et à la sociologie dans les temps modernes", Œuvres en prose complètes, II, Paris, Gallimard, 1988, p. 498. [ Links ] With the exception of the work that Varnhagen published with José Conrado Carlos de Chelmicki, where the sections are distinct (Varnhagen was concerned with the historical part and Chelmicki with the geographical part), I have not yet found any other work co-authored by Varnhagen. See VARNHAGEN, F. A. de./ CHELMICKI, J. C. C. de. Corografia Cabo-Verdiana, ou descripção geografico-histórica da provincia das Ilhas de Cabo-Verde e Guiné. Lisbon, Typ. by L. C. da Cunha, 1841. 2 vol. [ Links ] 25 BARBOSA, J. C. "Discurso", Revista do IHGB, 1839, pp. 9-18. [ Links ] I have sought to analyze this discourse in "Lição sobre a escrita da historia. Historiography e Nação no Brasil do século XIX", Diálogos, Revista do Departamento de Historia da Universidade Estadual de Maringá, 2004, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 11-29. [ Links ] 26 SIMMONS, Jack. Southey. London, Collins, 1945, pp. 173-174. [ Links ] 28 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Examen de quelques points de l'histoire géographique du Brésil, Paris, L. Martinet, 1858, p. 7. [ Links ] In turn Southey acknowledged that despite the qualities of his work, it was still incomplete. See History of Brazil, London, Longman, 1819, III, p. 879. [ Links ] 30 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Les Hollandais au Brésil. Un mot de réponse à M. Netscher, Vienne, Éditions de l'Auteur, 1874, p. 8. [ Links ] 33 CA, pp. 370-371. On 26 June 1874, Varnhagen thanked the Emperor for the title of Viscount, idem, p. 425. Nevertheless, in a note in his Historia da Independência, published posthumously in 1916, Varnhagen commented during the process that culminated in the political independence of Brazil, there was a secondary character, whose nickname was Porto Seguro: "The memory that this name had already been associated with such a thug had the result of a certain cooling of the satisfaction we had in receiving a title associated with our historical works throughout all our lives", "Historia da Independencia do Brasil", Revista do IHGB, 1916, no. 31, p. 196. [ Links ] 36 The nationality of D. Maria Flávia de Sá Magalhães, Varnhagen's mother, has still not been precisely established. It is generally believed that she was born in Portugal, see CA, p. 91. The origin of the suspicion comes, so it seems, from a response of José Ignacio de Abreu e Lima to a harsh critique that Varnhagen had made of him. Abreu e Lima called Varnhagen the "son of a German and a lady who was not Brazilian". Varnhagen, in the reply where he refuted Abreu e Lima, left it understood that his mother had been born in São Paulo, see VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Réplica apologetica de um escriptor calumniado e juizo final de um plagiario diffamador que se intitula general, Madrid, D. Dominguez, 1846, p. 5. [ Links ] Gilberto Freyre, at the beginning of the 1940s made a passing comment which shows that at that time D. Maria Flávia may have been non-Portuguese: "This is the case of Varnhagen – the son of Germans – , who received the profoundly national title of Baron of Porto Seguro", Novo Mundo nos trópicos, Obra escolhida, RJ, Nova Aguilar, 1977, p. 961. For José Honório Rodrigues, Varnhagen was the "son of a German and a Portuguese", "Varnhagen, o primeiro mestre da historiografia brasileira (1816-1878)", Revista de History da América, 88, 1979, p. 100. [ Links ] 37 IGLÉSIAS, Francisco. Historianes do Brasil, RJ, Nova Fronteira/EUFMG, 2000, pp. 77-78. [ Links ] 38 This is the chapter dedicated to the analysis of the role of his father in Brazilian history entitled: "Minas de ferro. Varnhagen é o executor dos projectos d'elrei", HGB, II, 1, 1857, p. 357. In the second edition of Historia geral Varnhagen altered the title to: "Minas de ferro. Primeiras fundições em Ponto Grande". I analyze the relationship of Varnhagen, his father and José Bonifácio in "Em nome do pai, mas não do patriarca. Ensaio sobre os limites da imparcialidade na obra de Varnhagen", History, Unesp, 2005, 24/2, pp. 207-240. [ Links ] 40 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. "Reflexões criticas sobre o escripto do seculo XVI impresso com o titulo de Noticias do Brazil", Collecção de Notas para a Historia e Geographia Ultramarinas, V, II, Lisboa, Typography by the Academy, 1839, 120 p. [ Links ] The 'Reflections' are Varnhagen's comments on the work of Gabriel Soares de Sousa, which he not only edited, but also attributed the authorship to himself. I have dealt with this subject in "Quando um manuscrito torna-se fonte histórica: as marcas de verdade no relato de Gabriel Soares de Sousa (1587). Ensaio sobre uma operação historiográfica", History em Revista, Dossiê Historiográfica, UFPel, 6, Dec. 2000, pp. 37-58. [ Links ] 42 This "naive and restricted account made for elrei" by an "ocular witness", VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. "Chronica do descubrimento do Brazil", O Panorama, 1840, p. 21. [ Links ] See SUSSEKIND, Flora. O Brasil não é longe daqui, SP, Companhia das Letras, 1990, pp. 19-20, p. 179. [ Links ] 43 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Os Indios bravos e o Sr. Lisboa, Lima, Imprensa Liberal, 1867, pp. 36-38. [ Links ] J. F. Lisboa's criticism can be found in : "Sobre a escravidão e a Historia geral do Brazil", Obras de João Francisco Lisboa, v. 3, 1866, note C, pp. 468-515. [ Links ] 50 CORREA FILHO, Virgílio. Missões Brasileiras nos Arquivos Europeus, México, IPGH, 1952, p. 15, n. 5. [ Links ] 51 This "passion for the archive", according to Anthony Grafton, or the impact caused by the documentation found in the archives was what made Ranke appear to be the founder of a new school. GRAFTON, Anthony. Les origines tragiques de l'érudition. Une histoire de la note en bas de page, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1998, pp. 38-77 (especially p. [ Links ] 40, and pp. 48-57). However, this does not imply, according to Georg Iggers, that Ranke had been the first to apply a 'new' critical method to these sources, see IGGERS, Georg. The German conception of history, Middletown/Connecticut, Wesleyan University Press, 1969, pp. 65-66. [ Links ] Peter Gay also emphasizes Ranke's 'obsession' with archives and their relation with his travel, GAY, Peter. Style in History. New York, Basic Books, 1974, especially pp. 70-71. [ Links ] In relation to the notion of the "taste for the archive", see FARGE, Arlette. Le goût de l'archive, Paris, Seuil,1989. [ Links ] 52 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. "O Caramurú perante a historia", Revista do IHGB, 1848, pp. 129-152. [ Links ] 53 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Florilegio da poesia brazileira, Lisboa, T. I-II, Imprensa Nacional, 1850. [ Links ] Among these students of literature, see VERÍSSIMO, José. op. cit., pp. 192-193; COUTINHO, A. A tradição afortunada (o espírito de nacionalidade na crítica brasileira), RJ, José Olympio, 1968, p. 13; [ Links ] MARTINS, Wilson. A crítica literária no Brasil, SP, Departamento de Cultura, 1952, pp. 68-69. [ Links ] Antônio Cândido places him in the formation of the Brazilian literary canon, CÂNDIDO, A. Formação da literatura brasileira. BH, Itatiaia, 1981, 1, p. 350. [ Links ] 54 "Varnhagen's book", Ferdinand Wolf wrote in 1862, "entitled Florilegio is even more important [than those that preceded it, such as the works of Januário da Cunha Barbosa, Joaquim Norberto de Souza e Silva and J. M. Pereira da Silva]. The wise author does not content himself to publish for the first time a large number of previously unknown citations extracted from very rare sources; he demonstrates his German origin by the preciseness and the depth we can find in the historical introduction placed at the opening of the first volume. It is this last part of the work that serves as a model for us for the first four periods", WOLF, Ferdinand. Le Brésil littéraire. Histoire de la littérature brésilienne suivie d'un choix de morceaux tirés des meilleurs auteurs brésiliens, Berlin, Asher & Co., 1863, p. 4. [ Links ] 55 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Memoria sobre os trabalhos que se podem consultar nas negociações de limites do Império, com algumas lembranças para a demarcação destes, BN-RJ, mss. 21 pages 7,4,87. [ Links ] 56 GUIMARÃES, Manoel Salgado. "Nação e civilização nos trópicos: o IHGB e o projeto de uma Historia Nacional", Estudos Históricos, RJ, 1988, pp. 5-27. [ Links ] 60 SOUZA, Pero Lopes de. Diário da navegação da Armada que foi à Terra do Brasil – em 1530, Lisbon, Typography by Sociedade Propagadora dos Conhecimentos Uteis, 1839. [ Links ] 62 LÉVI-STRAUSS, Claude. Tristes Tropiques, Paris, Plon, 1990, p. 103. [ Links ] 64 HARTOG, Fr. Le miroir d'Hérodote. Essai sur la représentation de l'autre, Paris, Gallimard, 1991, p. 272. [ Links ] 67 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Succinta indicação de alguns manuscriptos importantes relativos ao Brazil e Portugal, Havana, Imprenta La Antilha, 1863. [ Links ] 68 Varnhagen, F. A. de. Carta ao Excmo. Ministro da Agricultura, a respeito principalmente de vários melhoramentos nos engenhos d'assucar das Antilhas, applicaveis ao Brazil. Caracas, Espinal, 1863. pp. 1-15. [ Links ] 69 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. La verdadera guanahani de Colon, Santiago, Imp. Nacional, 1864, p. X. [ Links ] 70 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Amerígo Vespucci. Son caractère, ses écrits (même les moins authentiques), sa vie et ses navigations, Lima, Imp. du Lercurio, 1865, p. 29. [ Links ] 74 VIEIRA, Celso. Varnhagen. O homem e a obra, RJ, Editor Alvaro Pinto, 1923, p. 34. [ Links ] 75 MAGALHÃES, Basilio de. "Varnhagen", Revista da Academia Brasileira de Letras, 81, 1928, p. 108. [ Links ] 82 D'AVEZAC, Armand. "Sur l'histoire du Brésil. Examen critique d'une nouvelle Histoire Générale du Brésil", Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, Paris, Chez Arthus-Bertrand, August and September 1857, pp. 89-356. [ Links ] 87 Heitor Lyra counts 37 letters, however in the Varnhagen's CA organized by Clado Lessa, among the 241 letters, 67 are addressed to the Emperor. LYRA, H. History de D. Pedro II. Fastígio (1870-1880), II, BH/SP, Itatiaia/Edusp, 1977, p. 117. [ Links ] 90 PORTO ALEGRE, M. A. Correspondência com Paulo Barbosa da Silva, ABL, RJ, 1990, p. 60. [ Links ] 91 Major was not only aware of the work of Varnhagen but called him "my valued friend", see MAJOR, R. H. The life of prince Henry of Portugal, surnamed the navigator, London, A. Asher & Co., 1868. pp. 372-378. [ Links ] 93 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. Noticia historica e decriptiva do mosteiro de Belem, Lisboa, Typography by Sociedade Propagadora dos Conhecimentos Uteis, n.d. [ Links ] 107 DENIS, Ferdinand. Quelques mots sur la deuxième édition de l'Historia geral du vicomte de Porto Seguro, ms. 3970, I, Biblioteca Sainte-Geneviève de Paris, (probably 1877), pp. 224-225. [ Links ] 111 VARNHAGEN, F. A. de. A questão da capital: maritima ou no interior?, Vienna, Carlos Gerold, Published by the author, 1877, p. 1. [ Links ] 115 FOUCAULT, Michel. Naissance de la clinique, Paris, PUF, 1963, p. IX. [ Links ] 117 His son, Xavier de Porto Seguro confirms in his memories that the journey was the cause of his death: "at the end of our second year in college, my father had the unfortunate idea of traveling to Brazil. This journey was the cause of his death. He was absent for six months and returned with a disease in his lungs", PORTO-SEGURO, Xavier de. Mémoires, recueillies et mises en ordre par Hippolyte Buffenoir, Paris, Bureaux de la Revue de la France Moderne, 1896, p. 21. [ Links ] 118 Cited in GARCIA, Rodolfo. "Ensaio bio-bibliographico sobre Francisco Adolpho de Varnhagen, Viscount de Porto Seguro", apud HGB, II, 3/4, 1928, p. 452. [ Links ] 123 BOURDIEU, Pierre. "L'illusion biographique", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences de Sociales, no. 62/63, 1986, pp. 69-72. [ Links ] 124 MACEDO, J. M., Revista do IHGB, 1878, p. 489. [ Links ] 126 "Critica", apud MENEZES, R. Dicionário literário Brasileiro, SP, Saraiva, 1969, p. 1289. [ Links ] 128 BELLIDO, Remígio de. Varnhagen e a sua obra. Comemoração do centenário, SP, Rothschild, 1916. [ Links ] 129 FLEIUSS, Max. Recordando (casos e perfis), III, RJ, IBGE, 1943, pp. 106-107. [ Links ] 133 In the sense that Paul Ricœur gives the terms: "The beginning is historical, the origin is mythical", La mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli, Paris, Seuil, 2000, p. 174. [ Links ] 135 For the case of Herodotus, see: MOMIGLIANO, A. "The place of Herodotus in the history of historiography", Secondo Contributo, Rome, 1960, pp. 29-44 (especially the initial pages); [ Links ] 136 According to Arnaldo Momigliano, Herodotus was, among the authors of antiquity, the one who travelled most, which also won him the title of father of ethnography. MOMIGLIANO, A. Les fondations du savoir historique, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1992, pp. 58-59, see also HARTOG, François., op. cit., 1991, p. 379. [ Links ] 137 In relation to the reception of Thucydides by nineteenth century historiography, see HARTOG, François. "L'œil de Thucydide et l'histoire 'véritable'", Évidence de l'histoire. Ce que voient les historiens, Paris, EHESS, 2005, p. 82. As of the present I still do not know the reason that caused Varnhagen not to publish the Historia da independência. The most common hypothesis is that he did not have time. This could be the case. I suspect, however, that this was not the only reason. He may have done so as a precaution, as a result of the care for himself I have mentioned above, after all writing about people who were very close could cause unnecessary embarrassment. See CA, p. 432, p. 440 and p. 467 and also the preface to Historia da Independência and LESSA, C. op. cit., 224, p. 150. [ Links ] 139 MICHELET, J. "Préface (1869). Histoire de France", Œuvres complètes, Paris, Flammarion, 1974, pp. 11-14. [ Links ] 141 "The fact of being beaten constitutes a specific and original historical experience which cannot be learned or exchanged, and which allows the preparation of a method capable of conferring a durable existence what is gained from experience", "Mutation de l'expérience et changement de méthode. Esquisse historique-anthropologique", KOSELLECK, Reinhart. L'expérience de l'histoire, Paris, Hautes Études/Gallimard/Le Seuil, 1997, p. 241. [ Links ] |