Machado de Assis, the Brazilian Pyrrhonian

Chapter Five: Epitaph of a Small Winner

Chapter Five Epitaph ofa Small Winner The Deceased Writer The analysis presented in Chapter Four showed that the key element in the short stories that Machado de Assis revised for second publication is a search for a point of view appropriate for exhibiting a reflective dimension. Similarly, in Epitaph Machado has Bras Cubas take a point of view that is the solution for the problematic situation of the homem de esp(rito. At this point, where Machado's pessimism is at its highest, the r homem de esp(rito has no place in real life. He thus becomes the basic formal element of the novel. This solution represents a revolutionary turn in Machadian-and Brazilian-fiction. Scholars unanimously point out that what makes Epitaph a masterpiece is its narrative point of view. My analysis begins with Bras Cubas's initial remark-reiterated by Machado in the prologue to the third edition-about the status of his work. Trata-se, na verdade, de uma obra difusa, na qual eu, Bras Cubas, se adotei a forma livre de urn Sterne, ou de urn Xavier de Maistre, nao sei se the meti algumas rabugens de pessimismo . Pode ser. Obra de finado. Escrevi-a com a pena da galhofa e a tinta da melancolia; ... Acresce que a gente grave achara no livro umas aparencias de puro romance, ao passo que a gente frivola nao achara nele 0 seu romance usual. (OC 1: 511; see Appendix 43) For Bras Cubas, the singularity of his work, which he qualifies as philosophical, lies in its reflective content. Within the fictional context of his life, his autobiography is a serious attempt at capturing the central events and features of that life. These features account for the "peevish pessimism" (E 17) that he 79 Chapter Five indicates as distinguishing his work, on the one hand, from those novels that were models for his own, and on the other hand, from the romantic novels then fashionable in Brazil. The criterion for selection of the events to be included in the autobiography is not merely factual, but philosophical: he selects those events that portray human misery. Once reconsidered in the writing of the autobiography, these events appear as illustrations of the reflective dimension-philosophical view-that is being generated in Machado's fiction and, as has been demonstrated, is closely related to Pascal's thought. Epitaph highlights the first stage of the Pyrrhonian's journey : zetesis. This is the most philosophical stage, for it is the occasion on which philosophical doctrines are subjected to critical examination. In Bras Cubas's case, the philosophical doctrine subjected to zetesis is Quincas Borba's "Humanitism." As pointed out by Barreto Filho, Humanitism is a caricature of philosophical systems and doctrines in general, and in particular , of the philosophies of history fashionable in Brazil during the late nineteenth century-Darwinism, Comte's positivism, and Spencer's social evolutionism. What has not been noticed thus far by scholars is that the element of these philosophies that Bras Cubas assails is the Stoicism that Machado identifies behind the secularized and scientific outward appearance of the "nova tendencia intelectual" (OC 3: 810) ("new intellectual tendency"). These Stoic elements are the following: determinism , rationalism, a providential view of nature, and an optimistic view of human nature-the divinization of the human species. Bras Cubas's skepticism, therefore, attacks fundamental features of the Hellenistic doctrine that was historically the main target of the Greek skeptics. The skeptic's zetesis must be distinguished from the usual philosophical argumentation that aims at the establishment and proofofdoctrines. Bras Cubas refers to this philosophical-but not dogmatic-aspect of zetesis when he specifies the status of his book: obra supinamente filos6fica, de uma filosofia desigual, agora austera, logobrincalhona, coisa que nao edifica nem destr6i, nao inflama nem regela, e etodavia mais do que passatempo e menos de que apostolado. (OC 1: 514; see Appendix 44) 80 Epitaph ofa Small Winner He emphasizes the philosophical nature ofhis work at the same time that he distinguishes it from the optimistic philosophical works ofhis time. "Apostolado" ("preachment") probably refers to Comte's positivism, one faction of which became a church in Brazil the year before the publication of Epitaph (Paim 440). Although ~nls Cubas's work is antidogmatic, it is not completely skeptical. The other two stages in the Pyrrhonian's journey -epoche and ataraxia-although not altogether absent in Epitaph, are fully defined only...