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Enervadas

of Chrysanthème

available here

Synopsis

After being diagnosed as “enervated” – a term used by science at the beginning of the 20th century to describe the behavior of a vast number of women – Lúcia, an “ultra-modern” carioca, as she describes herself, decides to narrate her life so as to question the diagnosis to
which she has been subjected. With acidic wit, the protagonist mixes everyday incidents and memories with comments that unveil a precious X-ray of Rio de Janeiro’s high society during Brazil’s Old Republic.

Prone to morphine and other narcotic substances, Lucia also describes her unhappy marriage to a Foreign Ministry official, traverses the inevitable dissolution of that marriage and deals with her subsequent love affairs. While pondering her newly attributed – and supposed – illness, the protagonist shares her experience with a group of loyal friends who could receive similar medical advice. With a critical and transgressive view of its time, Enervadas reveals the hectic and independent lives of sexually curious and free women who broke with the moral standards of the time in which the book was written.

Genres

why we recorded it

The production of “Enervadas” in audiobook format, narrated by actress Mariana Lima, is part of an attempt to recover marginalized works in the history of Brazilian literature. Chrysanthème, the author of the novel, is the pseudonym of Cecília Moncorvo Bandeira de Melo Rebelo de Vasconcelos, a prominent writer on the literary scene at the beginning of the last century, but who remained unknown for decades. The author of more than fifteen books, few of which have been reissued, Chrysanthème has returned to prominence with the publication of “Enervadas” by Carambaia in 2019. In the book, originally published in 1922, ten years before women were given the vote in Brazil, it is possible to identify a pioneering feminism, opposed to the submission of women and the restriction of their freedoms. By addressing, with humor and insight, issues that are still poignant today––marriage, infidelity, divorce, drug use, homosexuality and psychiatry––the protagonist spares no criticism of the established gender roles of her time. Along the way, she goes through major events such as the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic, treating them with a privileged perspective. As researcher Beatriz Resende points out in the afterword to the edition, part of Chrysanthème’s erasure is due to the fact that she was a representative
of art deco literature, which was overshadowed by São Paulo Modernism.

With an ending that shifts our interpretation, the narrative exposes the contradictions of its time, reaffirming the author’s own transgressive and unique position in the Brazilian publishing circuit of the 1920s. “Enervadas” is a rare gem, of extreme literary quality and significant value, as well as an important representative of early feminist writing in the country.

Chrysanthème read by Mariana Lima

Mariana Lima (São Paulo, 1972) is an actress, author and producer. She has acted in films such as “O banquete,” by Daniela Thomas, and “Sedução da carne,” by Júlio Bressane. On TV, she has appeared in productions such as “Cordel encantado” and “Sessão de terapia,” among other series and soap operas. She was a member of Teatro da Vertigem for ten years and acted in several plays. She won the Shell Award for Best Actress for her play “Pterodátilos” in 2011. She also wrote the play “Cérebro-coração” (Cobogó).

author Chrysanthème

The pseudonym of Maria Cecília Bandeira de Melo Vasconcelos, Chrysanthème is one of the best-kept gems of Brazilian literature. One of the leading names in women’s writing at the beginning of the 20th century, and a pioneer of feminist causes, the author published more than twenty books, none of which, as far as we know, have been reprinted. In her day, however, Chrysanthème was a public figure, particularly for her chronicles in the press. Among her books was A infante Carlota Joaquina (1937), in which she sought to challenge the traditional portrayal of the Luso-Brazilian queen as a shrew. She married at 19, had a son and was widowed at 38, in 1907, when, prompted by her mother, she gave impetus to her literary career.

hear an excerpt