Ruth Guimarães and a life of reinventions: achievements and limits of a black intellectual woman in São Paulo (1920-2014)

This article analyzes some aspects of Ruth Guimarães Botelho’s trajectory (1920-2014) as a black writer and folklore researcher, as well as a few moments of her public life. She became famous with her first published novel in 1946 and, in 2008, she became member of the Academy of Letters of São Paulo. Ruth Guimarães also worked for very important publishing houses as professional translator of French language, specialized in Russian and French authors. I try to understand the social conditions that made Ruth Guimarães and her works possible to exist in some cultural and political contexts. For this purpose, I use interviews and newspapers research combined with specialized bibliography.

Black Women Intellectuals; Brazilian Social Thinking; Ruth Guimarães