A Sucessora

For the Rede Globo telenovela, see A Sucessora (telenovela).
A Sucessora

Book cover of the 3rd edition (1940s)
Author Carolina Nabuco
Publication date
 1934
Media type Print

A Sucessora is a novel written by the Brazilian writer Carolina Nabuco.[1] It was first published in 1934 and was later adapted into the 1978 telenovela A Sucessora.[2]

Synopsis

The story revolves around the character of Mariana, a young woman that has married the widower Roberto Steen. As Mariana attempts to acclimate to her new marriage and responsibilities, she discovers that Steen's dead wife Alice still seems to have a hold over the household.

Controversy

A Sucessora received international attention after the publication of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca, which presented striking similarities to Nabuco's novel.[3][4] Critic Álvaro Lins remarked in 1941 that there was little difference between the two novels.[5] Du Maurier rebuffed claims of plagiarism in a 1941 Letter to the Editor in The New York Times, where she wrote that she had not heard of Nabuco or A Sucessora until the previous year.[6] Du Maurier's publishers also denied any intentional similarities between the two works,[7] although Nabuco herself believed that her work had been plagiarized[8] and there were claims that du Maurier's publisher intentionally gave her a copy of Nabuco's manuscript.[9] Nabuco also claimed that producers of the theatrical version of Rebecca came to her with a contract that would state that the similarities between the two books were coincidental and that she would be "compensated with a quantity described as 'of considerable value'" if she signed.[10]

A reviewer for The Saturday Review of Literature stated that although parts of the two books are similar, "the similarities occur only in the beginning of Rebecca".[11]

References

  1. ↑ Brandão, Ruth Silviano. Mulher ao pé da letra: a personagem feminina na literatura : ensaio Editoria UFMG. pp. 107–110
  2. ↑ Os 25 anos da novela A Sucessora, de Manoel Carlos Parana Online
  3. ↑ Genero e representacao na literatura brasileira. Faculdade de Letras, Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Letras, Estudos Literarios. 2002, p. 136
  4. ↑ Cook, Judith. Daphne: A Portrait of Daphne Du Maurier. Ulverscroft Large Print Book. 1992, pp. 195, 199
  5. ↑ Lins, Álvaro. Jornal de critica. Olympio , 1941. pp. 234–236
  6. ↑ Du Maurier, Daphne. Letter to the Editor 1. New York Times. February 01, 1942, Section Book Review, p BR2.
  7. ↑ New York Times. Rebecca' Publisher Denies Any 'Parallel. Nov 21, 1941
  8. ↑ Nabuco, Carolina. Oito décadas: memórias. Nova fronteira, 2000. p. 141
  9. ↑ Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras--Estudos Literários. Gênero e representação na literatura brasileira. UFMG, Faculdade de Letras, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, Estudos Literários, 2002. p. 136
  10. ↑ Tiger in a Lifeboat, Panther in a Lifeboat: A Furor Over a Novel New York Times
  11. ↑ Smith, Harrison. Was "Rebecca" Plagiarized? The Saturday Review of Literature. November 29, 1941, pp. 3–4