A CONSTRUÇÃO DA IMAGEM DE MACHADO DE ASSIS NA OBRA DE SILVIANO SANTIAGO E DE JOSÉ ALMEIDA JÚNIOR

Abstract

The figure of Machado de Assis arouses, at the very least, a critical curiosity regarding the reasons for his continued centrality in contemporary Brazilian literature. His persona has become an object of scholarly inquiry not only due to his published literary oeuvre, but also because of the prestige he attained during his lifetime—as a Black writer operating within the context of a slaveholding society. This master's dissertation, submitted to the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos de Linguagens (PPGEL) at UFMS, had the primary objective is to examine how the image of this writer is constructed in two contemporary historical novels: Machado, by Silviano Santiago (2017), and O homem que odiava Machado de Assis, by José Almeida Júnior (2019). This is not a biographical study of the author; rather, it investigates how each novelist constructs the figure of Machado de Assis as a protagonist within their respective narratives. Santiago centers his narrative on the period between 1905 and 1908, portraying the acclaimed author in the years following the death of his wife, Carolina. In contrast, Almeida Júnior presents a fictional narrator—Pedro Junqueira—who knew the centenarian writer during childhood and whose romantic life has been interwoven with Machado's since adolescence, emphasizing the historical backdrop of slavery. The methodology adopted is essentially bibliographical in nature. The analysis demonstrates that Santiago approaches Machado de Assis through an autobiographical lens, while Almeida Júnior, through the voice of Pedro Junqueira, offers a more humanized portrayal of the writer. Keywords: Machado de Assis; contemporary Brazilian literature; Silviano Santiago; José Almeida Júnior.