THE TRAJECTORY OF MACHADO DE ASSIS AND HIS (NOT) RECOGNIZED BLACKNESS

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explain the life and work of the brazilian writer Machado de Assis and, therefore, to investigate the man behind the myth, given that his blackness was something obscure in the society of his time. In this study, the themes are developed in a synchronous way, passing through the author's life trajectory, his vast literary production, the tributes paid to the novelist and the polemics that involve the skin color of Machado de Assis. The research contributes to broaden the scope of Machado's studies as it elucidates the reasons that led Wizard of Cosme Velho to be patrimonialized throughout Brazil. And not only that, after all, the study still brings important findings about the importance of the writer's blackness. And, also, it elucidates the historical error regarding its blackness, just look at the publicity of the state bank Caixa Econômica Federal that uses a white actor to interpret the writer that is approached in this study.