226 p., A cultural history of Rio de Janeiro's Cidade Nova from the arrival of the Portuguese court in 1808. The area became identified with Afro-descendents and Ashkenazi Jews, but it was also inhabited by Spanish, Italian and Portuguese immigrants. discusses intersections between literary imaginaries and urban experiences, involving topics like social segregation, cultural memory, spatial porosity, cognitive mapping, and the idea of the city as a palimpsest.
