The press and Carlos Dias Fernandes: The process of legitimation as an author of text books

Abstract

The periodical, A União, the offi cial organ of the state of Paraíba, of the year of 1918 was used for the dissemination of the book, Escola Pitoresca, thus making it known to the readers
of A União before it was turned into an object. This historical study analyzes the dissemination of the textbook, Escola Pitoresca, by the writer and journalist Carlos Dias Fernandes, through the newspaper A União and inserts it in the history of textbooks in Brazil. It used the book itself – texts, foreword and decree – as its object and source and the periodical, A União of the year of 1918, which witnessed the book’s production process and its supposed dissemination in Brazil. For that purpose, it makes use of the New Cultural History to understand the process
of circulation of a cultural object in the press, which makes it possible to understand the book in its discursive specifi city and to situate it in its historical context. Thus, the article shows the author’s strategy to make his book and himself known among the readers in the state of Paraíba.

Key words: press, textbook, author.