IN THE WEFT OF THE FABRIC: THE CLOTHING OF MACHADIAN CHARACTERS AND ITS REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURE AND IDENTITY

Abstract

The characterization of the figures in the work of Machado de Assis is achieved through numerous techniques and the description of clothing is one of the recurrent methods of representation. This article focuses on the references to the wardrobe in the short stories published in A Estação and in Jornal das Famílias, and aims at correlating them to culture and to issues of identity in the nineteenth century in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Therefore, literary and social aspects are interconnected and bear witness to how fashion, as presented by Machadian characters, contributes to the description and construction of meaning for the short stories. This study draws upon authors who address fashion as a representation of the world, where values are transmitted via signs.

Machado de Assis; fashion; culture; identity