The House of the Alferes in Joaquina, Daughter of Tiradentes, by Maria José de Queiroz

Abstract

This article aims to analyze, in Joaquina, daughter of Tiradentes, by Maria José de Queiroz, a novel published in 1987, the figure of Joaquina, the natural daughter of Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, seeking to glimpse, in this biographical account, from a character silenced by official history, a panoramic image of Brazilian history and the ruin of one of its martyrs, Tiradentes. In the course of the novel, after escaping the disastrous fate of the inconfidente, Joaquina and her mother move between numerous houses, spaces that provide them with shelter and protection, but that also represent the various nuances that make up the society of the time and, at the same time, engender the contrast between the ruined and salty house of Tiradentes, so that nothing else grows there, including his descendants, and the dwellings inhabited by the surviving women. Thus, the main intention of this article was, based on this biographical archive, to present the story of Tiradentes’ daughter, her parents and the ruined house of Tiradentes, whose own descendants had been erased from official history, leaving, through the literary work of Maria José de Queiroz, the narrative of Joaquina.