Abstract
This essay aims to identify the place occupied on the literary scene of the 1870s by Machado de Assis's Helena (1876) and Franklin Távora's O Cabeleira (1876). Therefore, the essay analyzes the reception of the novels in Ilustração Brasileira, a journal in which one can map the early dialogue between Machado and Távora regarding the tack of Brazil's literature. Then the essay offers a reading of the novel through a comparison of the critical reception of the competing literary projects, seeking to reestablish the relationship between the reader and the literary work in its context and synchronicity, a break from the reading mediated by its insertion in the canon of Brazilian literature.
Keywords:
Machado de Assis; Franklin Távora; Brazilian novel; Comparative literature