Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas: um estudo sobre a problematicidade do herói machadiano

Abstract

The current dissertation work aims to analyze the novel Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, by Machado de Assis, published in 1881, from concepts postulated by Georg Lukács in his work named Teoria do Romance (2009). In effect, our analysis’ heart is, specifically, to investigate the profile of the protagonist Brás Cubas, observing which aspects constitute his problematization, in other words, the present conflict between interiority and outside world. In his work, Lukács goes from Epic to show the subject’s fragmentarity represented in the modern novel, in which, relation between men/world becomes problematic by dissonance, ongoing disagreement, between the first and second nature. Therefore, characteristics that configure as a problematic hero from Lukács typology may be found in Machado de Assis’ character. The approach of this narrative category is based on cynicism, irony, authenticity attempts and on fickleness, previously mentioned aspects are highlighted over the chapters. The methodology applied within our investigative process has bibliographic nature, with the immanent reading of the work, as well as, surveys with goals to prioritize moments where Brás Cubas’ problematic dimension is emphasized. About the benchmarks composing Machado de Assis’ long critical fortune, we have worked, primarily, with Antonio Candido (2014), Alfredo Bosi (2015), Raymundo Faoro (2001), Valentim Facioli (2008), Roberto Schwarz (2012), amongst others appreciations, which dialog directly with our analysis. Effectively, the reading presented in this work allows us to demonstrate the inherent aspects to Brás Cubas profile conform to Lukács conceptions, thus, the protagonist goes beyond Lukács typology. Consequently, he is classified as a hybrid problematic hero.