Although they occupy different places in literary history, it is possible to verify that the works of Camilo Castelo Branco and Machado de Assis are similar in many ways. One of the characteristics they share is the critical and detached manner with which they observed the aesthetic movements of their time. It is our goal to show how the authors criticize the scientific discourse, utilized by Naturalism, in novels such as O que fazem mulheres andO senhor ministro, by Camilo, and in the short story"A causa secreta" by Machado de Assis.
Camilo Castelo Branco; Machado de Assis; Naturalism; science