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Uma Filosofia Buissonnieuse, ou de como o narrador desce as escadas: Como ler a questão da "Filosofia de Machado de Assis" na contemporaneidade
- Luso-Brazilian Review
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Volume 44, Number 2, 2007
- pp. 87-116
- 10.1353/lbr.2008.0014
- Article
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In this article I address a long-standing issue in Machadian studies, that of the relationship between philosophy and literature in the fiction of Machado de Assis. I start by acknowledging my indebtedness to the studies that Abel Barros Baptista has recently dedicated to the Brazilian author. In his article, "A Reforma Hermenêutica: Acerca da legibilidade de Dom Casmurro," Baptista implies an anti-hermeneutical reading of Machado's novels and short stories in order to advocate for a "hermeneutical reform." With his contribution in mind, I proceed to question the theoretical and critical presuppositions of some of the most canonical readings that have been proposed to address the focus of this essay. I conclude by proposing a reading of the short story "O espelho: Esboço de uma nova teoria da alma humana," which exemplifies the principles that I sustain as being indispensable for addressing the issue of the relationship between philosophy and literature, that is, the philosophical relevance of literature as much as the literary relevance of philosophy.