A Brazilian Borgean labyrinth

Abstract

The purpose of this review is discuss the elements in the novel Machado, by Silviano Santiago. Although it is a fiction, there is a certain hybridity in the work, since it mixes history, literary criticism, romance and the letters that the writer Machado de Assis has changed in the last years of his life. Silviano revives the turn of the century in Rio de Janeiro, along with carioca court personalities, coincidences between the lives of the characters and weaves a panorama that oscillates between memory, literary analyses and fiction. The search for the relation between the epilepsy of Machado de Assis and the possible connection with his literary style is one of the hypotheses explored by the author throughout this novel. The borgean labyrinth of the work seems to unite the presence of death and solitude to compose this intricate plot that links the life, the history and the literary writing of Machado de Assis and Silviano Santiago.