Classical reception in Machado de Assis: Homeric echoes of Helen and Penelope in the characterization of Capitu

• Grant number: 19/09553-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2019
• End date: July 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Christian Werner
• Grantee: Letícia Gabriela de Castro Monteiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Machado de Assis was not only an admirer of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but a keen reader as well, which can be proved by the way he quotes the Homeric works, and, as we intend to discuss in this research, by the dialogue that the novel's receiving public may construct between these novels and the mentioned poems. In this way, based on the classical reception studies methodology as substantiated by Hardwick (2003), this research proposes to verify if and how the Homeric characters of Helen and Penelope resonate in the construction of the Machado's Capitu from the novel Dom Casmurro, and how a dialogue between these works can be traced.