O tema da demência em Machado de Assis: uma abordagem sobre as obras Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, Quincas Borba e O alienista

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the concept of madness in the books Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, Quincas Borba and O Alienista. The analysis of these three works is intended to show the commitment of Machado de Assis to expose the imposture devised by streamlining and were sanctioned by the social prestige of science. The work, in short, will be divided into three parts: first, make a reconstruction of critical fortune of the author, then discuss the approach Machado on science and madness, and finally, will focus on the use of ironic language in works such as way to highlight critical aspects of Machado to Science. Doing it, we can contribute to a richer and more complex vision of the History of Psychology in Brazil in the end of the nineteenth century; besides, this material allows us to raise some hypothesis about how Machado saw the ideas of his time. This research gives us many results. First, we bring to light the way Machado developed in his characters the concept of unconscious, as a link between mind and behavior. Second, his work represents the human being with unity and complexity, because he doesn t show the human being as a psychological being, but historical, political, moral, biological, or to put all his qualities in one word: the man that lives, always in a circumstance and in a time. The fiction, for showing the human being in time and space, reveals in a rich way the dynamic between behavior, conscience and environment, and of man with his peers. Moreover, we can find in Machado s works some meditations concerning the limit of language to represent the man and his inner self