Abstract
This paper proposes that we read Machado de Assis' essay "Instinto de nacionalidade" side by side with two short stories published by the author the same year in Midnight Tales: "The Blue Flower" and "Much Heat, Little Light". Literary critics concerned with Machado usually read his famous essay as pointing to his more ambitious novels, published almost a decade later. I propose, however, that we read this essay as a blueprint for the short stories he was writing at the time, when he was still in the process of understanding his relationship with Brazil's romantic movement and how to balance its influence with his own creative independence.
Keywords:
"Instinct of Nationality"; "The Blue Flower"; "Much Heat, Little Light"; Romanticism