In this article we do a reading of Joaquim Manuel de Macedo's novel, A Moreninha, from the point of view of the production of texts that aims the construction the idea of modernity, common worth for medical, educational and historiographical discourse in the 19th. Century. We also intend to provide methodological elements to the historical analysis of literary documents and we evaluate the limits and possibilities of the use of this language in History teaching. We take the literature as a specific documental source that needs a refined analysis, in order to apprehend the historical elements that are associated with the textual dimension and the contexts of production and reception.
History teaching; Brazilian literature; Cultural history of empire