Published 2017-03-16
Copyright (c) 2017 Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies
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Abstract
Abstract: This essay explores two “mysteries” in Machado de Assis’ work and reputation: the sudden shift of tone and manner from his early “romantic” novels to those of his middle and late career; and his recurring appearances and disappearances on the scene of world literature. The argument, illustrated through the gap between proverbs and lived life in the later novels, is that Machado’s elusiveness is his mastery and his identity. He is historicist in his very irony.