Abstract:
In this essay, the interest is to study references to the epic in Machado's prose. The starting point is Machado de Assis's critical work about the attempts of epic poetry, especially in the 1860s. Machado's chronicle incorporates epic references, in elevated terms, to mock daily life in Rio. In the novels and short stories, the reference to the epic also appears as an irony of characters and common actions. In a way, the critic learned the literary field and the place of epic poetry in Brazil. The fictionist wrote, for his part, prose in which the discourse incorporates the authors of the tradition, the scenes, and the epic characters, but only in the vocabulary. This mismatch between scenes and narrative discourse indicates the impossibility of heroic action, revealing a modern prose that breaks with epic tradition.
Keywords:
Machado de Assis; prose; epic; irony