ABSTRACT
The text of Dona Guidinha do Poco is covered with both references to and literal transcription of written documents. The transcription, divided in six parts—gold, silver, copper, iron, "bens moveis" (goods which can be transported), and "bens imoveis" (real estate, "non-moveable" goods)—immediately inscribes Guidinha's existence as textualized subject: that is, she is already enmeshed in the description of her property. The explanation is very crucial to Dona Guidinha do Poco, where questions of the genealogy of the Poco da Moita farm, as well as of the village of Cajazeiras, are explained in terms of written documents and dates related to the history of Brazil itself. For the purposes of clarifying some aspects of Dona Guidinha do Poco, it is useful now to look at the events related to the momentous occasion of the writing of Brazil's first constitution after independence.
