Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen’s História geral do Brasil: notes on the biographical genre in the writing of history during the 19th century

Abstract

The article briefly analyses aspects of the incorporation of the biography-genre in the text structure of the main work of the diplomat and historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen (1816-1878), born in Brazil and author of the work Historia geral do Brazil, published in two volumes, in the years of 1854 and 1857. The article is focused on the final part of his work, namely on the moment when the historian comes temporally closer to the narrated events, which refer to specific interferences, not only regarding the figure of the historian in the 19th century, but also the character that would come to define the history-text and its credibility.