Books and Periodicals in Brazil 1768–1930: A Transatlantic Perspective by Ana Claudia Suriani da Silva and Sandra Guardini Vasconcellos (eds)

Abstract

Reviews 110 in the world and the largest Pentecostal, and also the world capital of Spiritism (Kardecism). Here she traces the three main currents of Protestantism in Brazil to early twentieth century, then ‘conversion Protestantism’ which originated in US Protestant Revivalism, and, lastly to Neo-Pentecostalism, which has emerged recently and which is characterized by the ‘Theology of Prosperity’. She makes the important point that there is no separation between before/after Brazil/London; rather they are interconnected transnational religious spaces. Moreover, Brazilian immigrants in the UK do not fit neatly into the dichotomy of ‘local’ and ‘global’. She is interested in how Brazilian immigrants negotiate their religious beliefs and how they create new connections between different practices in different places and, what they ‘do’ with religion. She aptly explains to the reader how religion is ‘practiced, experienced, imagined and embodied by migrants as they create and inhabit spaces that span multiple scales’ (p. 7). Religious remittances is a concept she explores commendably. Sheringham found common patterns of downward mobility among migrants, and that Brazilians are most likely to be irregular in their legal status. She underscored current threads in her research, which include how the church became ‘family’ (the church as a refuge); a search for a sense of belonging (religious community or immigrant); that faith was a way to suppress saudades (a Portuguese word for ‘homesickness’); that returning to Brazil presented a further challenge of re-adaptation; and, lastly, that religious remittances play an important role in the return context as well as in the migration process. She argues that economic reasons should not mask multiple and inter-related decisions to migrate including the role of religion — which she makes convincingly. She concludes that transnational religious spaces are exclusionary as much as they are inclusionary. Sheringham effectively and skilfully reveals the interplay between religion and transnationalism. This is a well-researched book with excellent sources. This book is a must-read for all levels of diaspora and immigrant students and scholars. Ana Claudia Suriani da Silva and Sandra Guardini Vasconcellos (eds), Books and Periodicals in Brazil 1768–1930: A Transatlantic Perspective (Oxford: Legenda, 2014). 294 pages. Print. Reviewed by Orna Levin (Unicamp, Brazil) Although many essays been written about the expansion of the British book market and the corresponding increase in readership during the nineteenth century, British transatlantic exchanges have usually been considered within the framework of the English-speaking world, to the exclusion of Brazil. Recent studies, however, suggest that after the Portuguese court moved to Rio de Janeiro, in 1808, as a result of the Napoleonic invasion of southern Europe, the British traders and European commercial agents who followed did more Reviews 111 than simply settle there, introducing new cultural patterns that affected various aspects of daily life and providing local people with new political references and liberal ideas. This new collection of essays recently published by Legenda, which has the suggestive title of Books and Periodicals in Brazil, 1768–1930: A Transatlantic Perspective, edited by Ana Cláudia Suriani, Lecturer in the School of European Languages, Culture and Society, University College London, and Sandra Vasconcelos, Lecturer in English Literature at the University of São Paulo, should help to overcome the lack of familiarity on the part of European readers with topics relating to this aspect of Brazil’s place in international book history. The thirteen essays included in the publication will help readers better understand how the advance in printing techniques and the publishing trade contributed to a larger circulation of books, magazines and musical scores, among other forms of printed production. In particular, they turn our attention to less evident issues behind the editorial enterprises, which were run mainly by British, Portuguese and French dealers. The chapters encourage a deep analysis of the cultural transference that was made possible, to a large extent, by the increasing availability of foreign titles for reading. Foreign periodicals, such as the Edinburgh Review, Monthly Magazine, Blackwood’s Magazine, Revue Britannique and Journal de Débats, along with a variety of fictional and non-fictional books, provided readers with a constant source of information. They also provided a literary model for local editors to launch Brazilian periodicals. Furthermore...