Em busca de Machado de Assis: Memorial de Aires entre tradição, modernidade e as peculiaridades machadianas

Abstract

This present thesis intends to reflect about Machado de Assis trough his last novel ever published, Memorial de Aires. Bearing the mind the interdisciplinarity between History and Literature, since both seek to make sense to modern societies, and understanding that the secrets of the one known as the greatest Brazilian writer of all time only can come to light by researching the context where he lived, the goal is the analysis of the fundamental aspects about Machado‘s work, such as the confrontation traditional versus modern in the Brazilian 1800‘s society, slavery/freedom and Belle Époque and urbanization, plus the peculiarities about the narrative of Bruxo do Cosme Velho. This way, this work seeks to reinterpret the last and less studied novel of Machado, without losing sight in its wholeness, the details that aren‘t inside the pages, and that‘s why this work studies the historical background where Memorial was written, and compares it with other author‘s novels and tales.