Chapter 8 - The Machado Alphabet

Summary

In the entries below, I recap concepts and ideas related to Machado as well as introducing others.

Absenteeism Machado’s detractors have accused him of absenteeism. If one considers this concept to be the opposite of social and political activism, the accusation makes sense. Except for a brief period in the beginning of the 1860s – 1861 and 1862, when he wrote the series of crônicas entitled Comentários da semana – Machado preferred to stay away from public debates related to pressing political issues. Staying away doesn’t mean ignoring, though. His fiction incorporates the major historical events of his time, both nationally (the Paraguayan War, Proclamation of the Republic, Abolition of Slavery) and internationally (the Crimean War, Napoleonic Era). But, as a fictionist, particularly in his second phase, his skepticism precluded him from taking a stand, or from taking a fixed stand. Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that not taking a stand can be an inverse political statement. Think of Melville’s Bartleby, for instance – from “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Herman Melville, published in 1856. The obstinate refusal of Melville’s character to do what he was supposed to do has had huge political and cultural implications. Machado, too, said no to political activism while still being deeply interested in politics. Nevertheless, Machado said yes and embraced – in a subtle and elusively Machadian way – the feminist cause (see letter F).

Bastide The French sociologist Roger Bastide taught at the University of São Paulo from 1937 to 1954. His contributions to Brazilian studies in the field of sociology were rich and invaluable. His books are deemed classics and continue to be reprinted in new editions to this day. While in Brazil, Bastide read Machado, whom he considered “a master of world literature.” Within Machadian studies, Bastide is recognized for at least two remarkable achievements: first, for helping promote Machado in France during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s and 1970s (Bastide died in 1974); and second, for writing an essay on Machado – “Machado de Assis, paisagista” (“Machado de Assis, the Landscape Painter”) – which became a cornerstone of Machadian criticism. Appearing in 1940, “Machado de Assis, paisagista” came to be the first modern interpretation of the author. To a significant extent, Bastide’s essay redefined the way we read Machado’s fiction. Before 1940, Machado had had important interpreters, such as Astrojildo Pereira, Lúcia-Miguel Pereira, and Augusto Meyer.