Abstract

Maria Anna Acciaioli Tamagnini was a woman of special circumstances. She enjoyed many opportunities in regards to travel, education, as well as liberty of thought. These factors, in conjunction with her youth and ability to write, placed her in a unique situation in which it was possible to publish a book accessible to a large audience. With these opportunities, she searched for happiness, not only for herself, but for women everywhere. The picture of the Chinese woman that she paints with her poetry in the book Lin-Tchi-Fá: Flor da lotus opens a discourse about the situation of women in Macau, in Portugal, and in China. During the 19th and 20th centuries in China, Portugal and Macau, women increasingly fought for their rights. The political climate in which Tamagnini found herself was turbulent in many ways. Of notable importance in Tamagnini's work is the feminist movement what was gaining strength with sharp voices against traditional norms as well as the deep-rooted traditions that had for centuries oppressed women. Tamagnini, because of society's attitude in regard to these feminists, packaged her feminine message with much subtlety. Thus, readers who only wanted to hear a pretty story of the exotic Orient were satisfied, while to those readers with sensibility, she told the story of the woman's search for happiness. This happiness did not come by pleasing any man, but in the self-actualization of each woman.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

Rights

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