“A WALKING STICK TO RESTORE REASON”: Representations of Science in O Alienista, de Machado de Assis

Abstract

The article in question discusses the images of health and science in “O Alienista”, one of the most well-known short stories of the vast work of Machado de Assis (1839-1908) and also the subject of this study. In this piece of work, the author narrates the story of a doctor, a “man of science” of the nineteenth century named Simão Bacamarte. Following this train of thought, and relying on the theoretical and methodological approach in tune with Cultural History, the aim lies in the question: which images did Machado de Assis elaborate upon the relationship between science and society in “O Alienista” in the aforementioned historical time? Thus, the researchers intend to analyse how science, the character of the scientist and the social thought of the scientific practices in Brazil during the second half of the nineteenth century are represented in the pages of this short story.

Keywords

• madness
• science
• cultural history
• alienista.