“ÉTUDE SUR L’HUMOUR”: CHARLES LAMB IN MACHADO DE ASSIS’S LIBRARY

Abstract

This article aims to investigate Charles Lamb’s French publication, Essais Choisis, a copy of which Machado de Assis kept in his library. This book was published in 1880, the same year Machado began writing Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas in Revista Brasileira, and includes an extensive critical study, “Étude sur L’humour”, in which the translator, Louis Dépret, investigates the philosophical and literary grounds of English humour and of Lamb’s work. Thus, in this paper, I will conduct a philosophical and philological analysis of the terms associated with humour as discussed in Dépret’s preface, by which I hope to deepen the knowledge Machado had of Lamb’s humourism and essay writing.

Keywords:
Charles Lamb; Machado de Assis; Machado’s Library; Humor; Essay writing