The Intellectual Connection between the Brazilian Poet and Educator Cecília Meireles and the Mexican Writer-Ambassador Alfonso Reyes and his Projection as a Maestro for Brazilian University Youth (1930-1933)
The present study analyzes the intellectual connection established between the Mexican writer-ambassador Alfonso Reyes and the Brazilian poet and educator Cecília Meireles, fundamentally through the exchange of correspondence, in the early 1930s. The assessment was based on the approach of the intellectual networks from the perspective of a relational analysis. I show how the relationship established between the two intellectuals was the basis for a joint intervention, articulated by both, in which the image of the Mexican writer-ambassador was related to that of a maestro, an intellectual and moral guide, for Brazilian university youth. This intervention was retrieved through the analysis of correspondence and other historical sources, such as the speeches given by Reyes to Brazilian students – which were later published by him – and the articles written by Cecília Meireles in her Página de Educação (Education Page), published by the newspaper Diário de Notícias, from Rio de Janeiro, at the time. The joint analysis of these sources enables us to see how the poet and educator’s Página was mobilized as an important instrument within the strategy constructed by both in order to Reyes to exercise a leading role among young Brazilian university students.
