The commonness and the difference: characters in Resurrection, Helena, and Dom Casmurro, novels by Machado de Assis

• Grant number: 14/18486-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2015
• End date: January 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Brazilian Literature
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Hélio de Seixas Guimarães
• Grantee: Ana Carolina Sá Teles
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project approaches characters' composition and formation in Resurrection, Helena, and Dom Casmurro, novels by Machado de Assis. It analyzes a rich variety of characters - from flat ones to round ones - the latter being especially constituted by a subjective difference. On the one hand, the psychological critical reception of Machado de Assis' works has shown concern over the complexity of characters. In this sense, the scrutiny of human motivations, which is linked to a concept of modern subjectivity, is analyzed as a main trait of Assis' fiction. On the other hand, critics have remarked in his works the important presence of classical composition techniques such as the flat character, and the portrait. In the first case, we can mention critics like Augusto Meyer, Lúcia Miguel Pereira, Alfredo Bosi, Cleusa Passos, José Luiz Passos, and Pedro Meira Monteiro. In the second case, we find studies by Ivan Teixeira, and again by Pedro Meira Monteiro. This thesis aims to show that typical characters and unique characters are frequently developed in Machado de Assis' works, and that the different degrees of their complexity are related to the structure of the narrative. This reading seeks to outline a character's theory in Machado de Assis' by approaching the composition of flat characters, the presence of individual traits, and also the constitution of characters through difference, as these aspects are drawn in the author's correspondence, critic, and novels. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ANA CAROLINA SÁ TELES. RESSURREIÇÃO E MEDIDA POR MEDIDA: A IRONIA NAS RELAÇÕES INTERTEXTUAIS. Machado Assis Linha, v. 14, 2021-06-18. (14/18486-0)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

TELES, Ana Carolina Sá. Character and character constellations in Machado de Assis novels: Resurrection, Helena, and Dom Casmurro. 2018. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.