João Manuel Pereira da Silva

Litograph by Sébastien Auguste Sisson (1861)

João Manuel Pereira da Silva (10 August 1817 – 16 June 1898) was a Brazilian politician and writer.

Biography

João Manuel Pereira da Silva was born at Iguaçu in the Province of Rio de Janeiro, the son of Miguel Joaquim Pereira da Silva and Joaquina Rosa de Jesus e Silva, wealthy Portuguese merchants.

He studied law in Paris, graduating in 1838. Returning to Brazil, he dedicated himself to literature, writing fiction with a historical setting, such as Religião, Amor e Pátria and O Aniversário de D. Miguel in 1828 — published by the Jornal do Commercio. In 1839, together with Pedro de Alcântara Bellegarde and Josino do Nascimento Silva, he founded the Revista Nacional e Estrangeira, which ran until 1841.

Linked to the Conservative Party in his home province, he was deputy general in 1843/44, 1848, 1850/1852, 1853/1856, 1867/1868, 1869/1870, 1872/1875, 1877, 1882/1884 and 1886/1887. From January 9, 1888 to 1889, he held a seat in the Imperial Senate. As a member of Parliament, he vigorously defended the foreign policy of the Viscount of Uruguai, especially concerning the River Plate region, about which he wrote a book.

After the proclamation of the Republic, he returned to private life. From 1895 he wrote a book entitled Memórias do Meu Tempo (Memories of My Time), which describes Brazilian political life between 1840 and 1886.

He was a member of the Royal Academy of History, the Lisbon Geographic Society, the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute and its French counterpart. In Brazil he received the Order of the Rose; Pereira da Silva was also made Commander of the Order of Christ, Order of Aviz and Knight of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa.

João Manuel Pereira da Silva died at the age of 80.

Works

Novels and novellas

• Uma Paixão de Artista (1838)
• Religião, Amor e Pátria (1839)
• O Aniversário de D. Manuel em 1828 (1839)
• Aspásia: Narrativa do Século XIX
• Jerônimo Corte-Real: Crônica do Século XVI (1840)
• Manuel de Moraes: Crônica do Século XVII (1866)

Biographies

• Plutarco Brasileiro (1847; 2 volumes)
• Varões Ilustres do Brasil durante os Tempos Coloniais (1858)
• Memórias do Meu Tempo (1897; memoirs)
• Filinto Elísio e Sua Época (1891)

Criticism

• Parnaso Brasileiro (1843–1848; 2 volumes)
• Obras Literárias e Políticas (1862; 2 volumes)
• Nacionalidade da língua e literatura de Portugal e do Brasil (1884)

History

• História da Fundação do Império (1864–1868; 7 volumes)
• Segundo Período do Reinado de D. Pedro I no Brasil (1871)
• História do Brasil de 1831 a 1840 (1879)

Translations

• Pierre Corneille, D. Ruy Cid de Bivar (1842; tragedy in 5 acts; portuguese version of Corneille's Le Cid)
• Élias Regnault, Histórias dos Crimes do Governo Inglês, desde os Primeiros Assassinos da Irlanda até o Envenenamento dos Chins (1842)

External links

• João Manuel Pereira da Silva
• Works by João Manuel Pereira da Silva at Internet Archive

Professional and academic associations
Patron: Sousa Caldas	1st Academic of the 34th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters 1897–1898	Succeeded by Baron of Rio Branco
Preceded by —	President of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro 1858–1860	Succeeded by —
Preceded by —	Senator of the Empire of Brazil 1888–1889	Succeeded by —