A pedra da lua: contos de Machado de Assis reunidos em Papéis avulsos e Várias histórias

Abstract

Machado de Assis, in the series of short stories entitled Separate Sheets and Several Stories, makes repeated allusions to fiction and fictional deeds, which leads us to consider the possibility of intentional choice of a thematic axis which flows through the narratives, allowing the intentionality of the plots to be read and clearly understood, bestowing a referential characteristic on the whole set. The evocations of these clusters of tales done by Diderot, Merimée and Edgar Allan Poe lie literally on the perception that distinguishes between deceit and fraud, at the same time they don t deny the strength and variety of uses by cluing about future and, sometimes, obscure paths to the pleasure of aesthetic sensations. Throughout this thesis, I try to prove the author chooses the short narrative to discourse upon fictional deeds, and this theme is a plus among others, and accurately arranged in layers that not only overlap, but interpenetrate and reaffirm different strands of the narrative web. Machado tells stories while dealing with the very act of fact-reporting - the effects and necessity of fiction. Meanwhile, he reaffirms it as a tool for the intelligentsia, in a world where the Cartesian objectivity, no longer, regards eyes as faithful receivers of reality, but the fact that we need other ways of seeing and feeling