Emília Freitas: Voices Of The Unknown

Emília Freitas was a teacher, poet, novelist, abolitionist, republican and spiritist. She was born in União (now Jaguaruana), in the countryside of Ceará, in 1855. She lived in Ceará and the north of the country, and died in Manaus, in 1908. 

In 1869, after the death of her father, Emilia Freitas and her family moved from União (now Jaguaruana) to Fortaleza. From then on, she published her poems in the newspapers in Fortaleza. 

In her poetry, Emilia Freitas wrote a large number of poetic “frames” dedicated to her loved ones, some of which were published in the newspapers.

Emília Freitas was a teacher who contributed to the education of freed slaves in night schools run by participants in the abolitionist movements.

“Florina (conto maravilhoso)”, an unsigned text published by Emília Freitas in the Libertador newspaper on August 8 and 9, in 1883. The tale contains elements developed in A Rainha do Ignoto, from 1899. 

Located at the entrance of Itaiçaba (formerly Passagem das Pedras), the Areré mountain and its cave are the place to enter the mystery of the Queen of the Unknown and her world. 

At the end pf 1891, Emilia Freitas set off for Manaus with her brother. In 1892, she wrote about this journey in the text “Do Ceará ao Amazonas” (From Ceará to Amazonas).

In a Manaus nicknamed “The Paris of the Tropics”, it was however “between the bare walls of a suburban school” that Emília Freitas wrote A Rainha do Ignoto. 

In, 1895, Emilia Freitas was appointed to teach at the school in Cachoeira Grande, a suburb of Manaus.

In a Manaus that was experiencing its “Belle Époque”, everything that was undesirable in the eyes of “civilization” was pushed to the suburbs, such as the city’s public slaughterhouse, located in Cachoeira Grande. 

Living in a city of lights, in writing her novel A Rainha do Ignoto, Emilia Freitas chose for a writing that didn’t allowed itself to be dazzled. 

The beginning of the first chapter of A Rainha do Ignoto (ed. 1899), entitled “A Funesta”, in which the reader is already introduced to the mystery of the “enchanted woman” from the “Areré Mountain” and her world run by women. 

Beginning of chapter LXVIII (68º) of A Rainha do Ignoto (ed. 1899), in which the Queen returns to her homeland, one of the most autobiographical chapters in the novel. 

Poem from Canções do Lar (2 ed, 2025), dedicated to Antonio José de Freitas, Emília’s father. The poem is part of the family “frames”, dedicated to her loved ones. 

Poem from Canções do Lar (2 ed., 2025), dedicated to Maria de Jesus Freitas, Emília’s mother, part of the family “frames”, dedicated to her loved ones. 

Second edition of Canções do Lar (Songs of Home), originally published in 1891, with this second edition, from 2025, organized by researcher Carla Castro.

First and second editions of A Rainha do Ignoto (The Queen of the Unknown), from 1899 and 1980. Between them, more than eighty years of silence regarding Emília Freitas' innovative novel.

Second edition of A Rainha do Ignoto (1980), published by the Ceará Department of Culture and Sports and the Official Press of Ceará, edited by Otacílio Colares, professor at the Federal University of Ceará.

Third edition of A Rainha do Ignoto, published by Mulheres and Edunisc (2003), with updates and notes by researcher Constância Lima Duarte.

Collection of editions of A Rainha do Ignoto.

A collection of works that deal, in whole or in part, with Emília Freitas and her work, resulting from studies and research on female authorship in Brazilian literature.

Obituary of Emília Freitas, published in the Jornal do Commercio de Manaus newspaper on August 20, 1908.

Beginning of the final chapter of A Rainha do Ignoto (ed. 1899), entitled “The Island of Fog (Conclusion),” in which the “last spiritist session” is held to invoke the spirit of the Queen of the Unknown (The Fatal One), culminating in the disappearance of her mysterious island.

The life and work of Emília Freitas are full of mysteries, but her devotion to writing and her faith in spiritualist conceptions of existence remain unquestionable.