The Machadian turning point
Abstract
The article examines the evolution of the works of Machado de Assis and stresses their exceptionality within the Brazilian postcolonial literary context, focusing on the author's thematic and formal volte-face with regard to the novels of the first phase. From Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas - The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, often subtitled as the Epitaph of a Small Winner - (1880) on, Machadian fiction takes on a new composition principle, which challenges the conventions dictated by realism and whose uniqueness lies in the narrator's arbitrary and transgressive development. While the narrative sets a tone that is both cosmopolitan and universalizing in dealing with local matters, it takes on the perspective of the lordly class. By identifying the events that constitute this procedure, the author highlights the literary genius and the scope of the Machadian view on the particularities of social relations in Brazil.
