The Engenho de Meninos: Literature and Gender History in José Lins do Rego

Abstract

The first section of this article discusses the relationship between literature and history and the role these writing practices play in the modern West, specifically, as they play into the ideas of the "subject" and the "individual".  The second section focuses on the work of Jose Lins de Rego; in it, we analyze how he elaborates his own subject image, first in childhood and later as an adult. Finally, we describe changes in the relationships between genders, particularly masculinity codes in the Northeast based upon the author's analysis of the sexual life of a mill boy compared to the sexual life of youngsters and adults in the city. Said another way, we are trying to use literature as a means to the end of studying gender history.