“The art of silence” (1920-1922): chronicle writing in times of cinema

Abstract

This article analyzes “A arte do silêncio” (The art of silence, Careta, 1920-1922), a series of chronicles, in terms of the relationship between the genre and cinema. “The Art of Silence” is signed by the elusive “Jack”, a foreign name which refers to a set of film review writers of the early 1920s. Based on canonical studies on the topic, this text explores the figure of the pseudonym to understand how the film industry shapes the writing of chronicles in a decade that is a turning point both for cinema (marking the consolidation of Hollywood production and its presence in Brazil) and for literature (considering the time frame of the Modernism), to discuss how film chronicles highly influenced by narrative cinema were possible in an illustrated magazine