Machado de Assis & the rhetorical tradition of theophrastan character

Authors

  • Ivan Teixeira Universidade de São Paulo; Escola de Comunicações e Artes; Departamento de Jornalismo e Editoração

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-901X.v0i51p67-98

Keywords:

Machado de Assis, Theophrastus, rhetoric, character, literary history

Abstract

The essay presents an investigation of the way personages are constructed in Machado de Assis' The Alienist. It offers the hypothesis that, in order to outline his creations, the Brazilian author appropriates the technique developed in Theophrastus' Characters. An historical background of Theophrastus' work is presented along with a critical analysis of the literary tradition inaugurated by it, one that focuses particularly on its elaborations in France, England, and Brazil. The essay thus seeks to affiliate Machado de Assis' artistic practice to the tradition of The Characters, taken as a manifestation of a specific literary sub-genre - the satirical portrait - which has a specific purpose, history, and set of features and rules.

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Published

2010-09-01

Issue

No. 51 (2010)

Section

Articles

License

 

  • Todo o conteúdo do periódico, exceto onde está identificado, está licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons do tipo atribuição CC-BY.

How to Cite

Teixeira, I. (2010). Machado de Assis & the rhetorical tradition of theophrastan character . Revista Do Instituto De Estudos Brasileiros, 51, 67-98. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-901X.v0i51p67-98