“É tão bom saborear um escândalo em letra de fôrma”: notícias de homicídios, suicídios e mortes misteriosas, narradas pelo jornal Pacotilha, entre os dois primeiros decênios do século XX

Abstract

suicides - published by the newspaper O Pacotilha, in São Luís, Maranhão, between the 1910s and 1920s. From the perspective of the Social History of Crime, the research analyzes how these narratives, strongly marked by sensationalism and the aesthetics of fait divers described by Roland Barthes and Dominique Kalifa, were appropriated and adapted to the local context, in dialogue with transnational narrative patterns. Based on emblematic cases such as the "Crime Monstruozo" (1913), the murder of Luiz Galeotti (1923), and high-profile suicides, the study identifies rhetorical devices and discursive strategies that, beyond their informative function, sought to entertain, moralize, and reinforce social hierarchies and stereotypes of gender, race, and class. The research is based on a qualitative analysis of editions of O Pacotilha available in the National Library's Digital Newspaper Library, supplemented by other contemporary periodicals and specialized bibliography on the press, crime, and urban culture (Barthes, Kalifa, Fausto, Bourdieu, Baczko, Caimari, Bretas, among others). The intersection of the examination of so-called "primary" sources and the theoretical framework allowed us to understand the role of the Maranhão press as an active agent in the construction of the social imaginary regarding violence and public order, highlighting its involvement in the political and cultural disputes of the First Republic and its pedagogical function in shaping public opinion.