ABSTRACT
The history of the Portuguese cultural association movement in Second Empire Rio de Janeiro is characterized by the founding of famous associations still active nowadays, such as the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura or the Liceu Literário Português. Yet, some other associations played an important part in Rio de Janeiro's cultural scene. Both the Grêmio Literário Português, founded in 1855, and the Retiro Literário Português, founded in 1859, created a brand new editorial policy in order to promote their activities, popularize Portuguese culture, and work for an increase of Luso-Brazilian cultural exchanges. Through the study of the literary reviews that both societies published, this paper aims to offer new perspectives on the troubled history of the Portuguese cultural association movement in Rio de Janeiro. This implies focusing on their relationships with the local cultural scene, and evaluating the part they played into a growing Lusitanian community in which social heterogeneity is growing.
Keywords:
association movement; Lusitanian community; Second Empire; literature; reviews.