This study aims at discussing the genesis of Machado de Assis’ novel and the fictionalized thinking on the novel genre in his first work as a novelist. Therefore, we will analyze the character Félix, one of the protagonists in Ressurreição (1872). We will note that by providing his fictional construction with a character that itself is the epithome of the features of the novel genre, Machado de Assis is also defining the genre for which he would be best known. Consequently, it is possible to bring Machado’s novels closer to the tradition of self-reflexive novels, and emphasize the author’s skepticism regarding the genre.
Machado de Assis; self-reflexive novel; comparative literature; Brazilian literature