Machado de Assis, exercicio literario

Abstract

The article stresses relativization as a fundamental trait of Machado de Assis's fiction. By pointing out the writer's ability to make statements that contain their own denial, the article highlights that each Machadian critic talks about him/herself when talking about the author. This is due to the fact that his work functions as a mirror in which the most divergent and even opposing views can find their form and expression. As it insists on the enigmatic character of Machado's fiction, the article calls our attention to the unfathomable mystery of his creatures, the absence of a neat borderline between truth and error, the contiguity of love and hatred, the simultaneous existence of good and evil.