PLCS 13/14 (2005)

The Author as Plagiarist - The Case of Machado de Assis
Guest editor - João Cezar de Castro Rocha (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)

An in-depth look at how Machado de Assis affirms his uniqueness through the role of a reflective reader who eventually becomes a self-reflective author, whose text is primarily the written memory of his private library. New readings of Machado’s work come to the fore when we discuss his legacy in a broader context. Therefore, we should emphasize the circumstances of an author who boldly experimented with literary genres, freely appropriated the literary tradition, developed an irreverent rapport with the reader through a series of experiments with the narrative voice, attributed to the act of reading a central role in the act of writing, and played with the process of rewriting the text as the text is being written through the act of ironically commenting on the process of composition.