The case of the magazine Careta in Lima Barreto's journalistic oeuvre (1915-1922)

This thesis examines the articles the Brazilian writer Lima Barreto (1881-1922) published in the popular satirical magazine Careta. It argues that Careta epitomises Lima Barreto’s aim to create social impact through literature, as it provided him with the largest readership he enjoyed in his lifetime, reaching hundreds of thousands of readers weekly nationwide and internationally. The thesis expands the knowledge about the strategies Lima Barreto used to convey his ideas, showing how he endeavoured to engage with mass audiences in order to combat social fragmentation and intellectual alienation in early twentieth century Brazil. The significance of this thesis is evident on two levels. First, I demonstrate throughout the chapters that Barreto fully engaged with Careta to convey his ideas to a mass audience, choosing the magazine as his main periodical voice in the last years of his life. This argument challenges the idea that Lima Barreto was a marginal writer in the First Republic. Second, the originality of this thesis lies in locating and uncovering almost one hundred and fifty hitherto unknown texts, most of them published pseudonymously in Careta. Chapter one discusses the militancy of Barreto's works. Chapter two argues that Barreto elected magazines, more than newspapers, to convey his message to a large audience. Chapter three relates the early history of Careta. Chapter four suggests that Barreto incorporated pictorial strategies into his articles. Chapter five argues that Barreto embraced Careta's central theme derived from the Commedia dell'Arte. Chapter six discusses systematically the pseudonyms attributed to Barreto in Careta and provides robust evidence that he published many hitherto unknown texts pseudonymously. Finally, I conclude that Careta encapsulates Barreto's efforts to reach a mass readership and communicate with readers beyond literary circles.