The reversal of history in Dom Casmurro and Esaú e Jacó

three points about Machado de Assis

Abstract

This short text is the final considerations of the doctoral thesis defended in December 2019. Since the text seeks to systematize the discussions of the thesis, as well as clarify some points that were more or less developed during the course of its content, we chose to leave it as it is, in order to maintain both the strong and weak points of the elaboration; we believe that this should not make it difficult to read, since the text aims to clarify not only the ideas to the reader, but also to the author himself who had discussed them during the thesis. It is important to mention here that this thesis sought to compose a somewhat hybrid discussion, reading Machado de Assis from the point of view of the consolidated critical fortune, and, as far as possible, including Lukács in the reading, which is not innovative, but still something unusual for Machado's criticism, although Lukács's theses have gained strength in recent years with regard to Machado de Assis's work. The result was salutary, so to speak. Among the many contributions made by the panel of examiners, one was quite emblematic: at one point, one of the examiners asked: During his thesis, was it Lukács who questioned Machado or vice versa? This question still remains unanswered, but it sheds light on the effort of the thesis, since it places the novelist and the critic on an equal footing, and, since both are great, the question corroborates the need to expand this type of study.