Madness, its place in society, and the tenuous boundaries separating it from reason became a constant concern in Machado de Assis' literary production as of 1880, when a shift can be observed in his work. Clinical studies exploring the relations between art and madness have mentioned this writer countless times. The article offers an overview of Brazilian psychiatry's perception of the arts, artists, and the creative process in the early decades of the twentieth century. It presents three studies on Machado de Assis and his works, written during that period by psychiatrists who interpreted artistic phenomenon from the perspective of psychopathology, and endeavors to identify the inner logic of these approaches.
madness; literature; occupational therapy; mental health; Brazil