Paper short abstract:

The problematic of assimilation and hybridity is nuclear in the thought of Francisco João da Costa. To enlighten his thought it is useful to situate Jacob and Dulce in the ensemble of his texts at the newspaper O Ultramar, namely the Notas a lápis where he first published the novel.

Paper long abstract:

The problematic of assimilation and hybridity is nuclear in the thought of Francisco João da Costa. Influenced by the idea of genuinity in coeval Orientalist and nationalist discourses, the author makes a fin-de-siècle evaluation of the liberal native catholic elite's project regarding cultural and intellectual conversion as preliminary condition to any ambition to local emancipation. To enlighten his thought it is useful to situate Jacob and Dulce in the ensemble of his texts at the newspaper O Ultramar, namely the Notas a lápis where he first published the novel.