Jealousy in the Novels of Machado de Assis Author(s): Charles Param Reviewed work(s): Source: Hispania, Vol. 53, No.

2 (May, 1970), pp. 198-206 Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/338575 . Accessed: 01/11/2011 14:03
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JEALOUSY IN THE NOVELS OF MACHADO DE ASSIS

CHARLES PARAM Western Washington State College ten about Machado de Assis's Domr Casmurro (1901), with the greater part of the critical comment concerned with the theme of jealousy. This trait of human character is found by Helen Caldwell to be a theme in twenty eight of Machado's stories, plays, and articles. Caldwell notes that jealousy "has a fat part in seven of his nine novels," and that "the plots of ten short stories turn upon the ugly passion."' Inasmuch as DormCasmurrois perhaps most of all an exercise in jealousy at work, one might wonder how the theme is treated in Machado's other novels, the functions and effects produced by jealousy, and the author's reason, or reasons, for employing it in the way that he did. In this study we will discuss these four points. It is our belief that the principal reason for Machado's use of jealousy as a motif can be found in the author's own life, which is true of other recurring themes in Machado as well as single references (nonrecurring events). Some of these are ingratitude,2insanity,3 the death and burial of a family's pet dog in the garden, a Negro peddler of sweetbreads,5 fear of death," megalomania,' and epilepsy.8 Jealousy in his works does not necessarily stem from any of the author's own experiences in love, but is a reflection of his changing views of humanity and life in general. Machado's first novel was published when he was around thirty-four years of age, and his final one appeared thirty six years later, shortly before his death. Given the fact that his novels span almost all his life as a writer, and at the same time represent all phases of his career better than any other form of his fiction, an analysis of his nine novels should be sufficient to establish a link between his life and works with particularregard to the trait of jealousy.

UCH HAS BEEN SAID and writ-

In Machado'snovels jealousy is presented in a varying patternof frequency, intensity, number of people involved, and functions. The groundwork for Dom Casmurro, Machado's best-known jealousy-based plot, is found in his first novel, Ressurreikao (1872). Among the similarities are these points: there is the involvement of two men, a woman and her child; no proof of infidelity on the part of the woman is to be found; and the outcome for the two men is identical in both stories, for each loses the love of the woman in the case. The jealousy experienced by FRlix (Ressurreiqao) is very moderate in comparison with that of Bento (Dom Casmurro). Machado's second novel, A mao e a luva (1874), does not continue the theme of jealousy although there are three suitors in contention for Guiomar'shand. Helena (1876) marks the return of jealousy, but with a variation that is unique in Machado's novels. Estaiciobelieves Helena to be his half-sister,and thus the kind of love he feels for her is shameful. Consequently his jealousy is even more unreasonablethan might have been the case if no family relationshiphad been involved. laid Garcia (1878), the final novel of Machado's first phase, or "romantic" period, carries the jealousy theme further, with a situation that involves several people and covers a period of more than five years in its development. The theme has not yet reached the point at which thoughts of violence occur to the jealous individuals. This will be introduced in Machado's second phase, or the "psychological"period of his writing, starting with Memdrias p6stumas de Bras Cubas (1881). The theme of jealousy in BrdasCubas occasions yet another variation in that the author permits his chief male character to tell his own story. This first-personnarra-

198

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tion gives Bris the opportunity to tell the story as he wishes, and he admits to playing the part of both the jealous person and the interloper. Thus there is no reason not to believe his confessions of passion as there will certainly be when Bento accuses Capitu of infidelity. A further development of the theme of jealousy in Machado's novels is the potential for violence in Brds Cubas. This will be a prospect in the following two novels, Quincas Borba (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1901). It is in Quincas Borba that jealousy reaches the saturationpoint with respect to the number of people involved and the futile, impossible, or ludicrous love affairs. One person, Sofia, is the object of violent attacks of jealousy in the fantasies of two different people, D. Tonica and Rubido, as Machado completes his preparation for Dom Casmurro. The story of Bento and Capitu reveals the power of jealousy to mold, distort, and destroy a human personality. Bento relates in a dispassionate manner how his jealousy grew until it brought him perilously close to suicide and murder, before it succeeded in destroying his role as a husband and a father. After Dom Casmurrothe theme of jealousy disappears,for in Machado's last two novels, Esauie Jac6 (1906) and Memorial de Aires (1908), the rival suitors decline to be jealous of each other. Machado died shortly after the publication of Memorial de Aires, and the absence of jealousy in these last two novels, covering seven years, is a sharp contrast to those three novels produced the previous twenty years, from Brds Cubas to Dom Casmurro. The jealousy motif had developed in his novels to its most destructive point between 1881 and 1901 and then disappeared forever from Machado's storehouse of recurring themes. The function of jealousy in Machado's novels is for the most part character development or character revelation. In only two stories, Ressurreido and Dom Casmurro does jealousy dictate the direction

and the outcome of the action. Helena, laidi Garcia, Brds Cubas, and Quincas Borba would not have ended very differently had jealousy been absent from their plots. Characterization, then, is the element most affected by jealousy. This is as true of Machado's "romantic" novels as it is of his "psychological"works. Machado's first four novels have been generally neglected by the critics. Mirio Matos says that they are stories written "para mogas em flor, leves e epis6dicas, leituras de sentimento, livros para cesta de costura ou para quietude solarenga."9 Wilton Cardoso is equally unenthusiastic, remarking that of Machado's first four novels, the one that least merits analysis is certainly the first.1o Ressurreigdo, owing to the presence of many themes and types that become mainstays in Machado's novels, does merit analysis, in our opinion. In Felix the author combines two traits that will later become dominant features in two different people: narcissism,which characterizesCarlos Maria (Quincas Borba), and jealousy, which is inherited by Bento (Dom Casmurro). FRlix embodies enough additional traits to warrant Massaud Moises, observation that he is an exception to the generally accepted statement that Machado's best characters are women. Moises stresses that it is the jealousy in Fdlix around which the story is developed," and such is the case with regard to Bento's jealousy and Dom Casmurro twenty-nine years later. It is the lack of great passions that distinguishes the other characters that Machado creates from 1872 to 1878. Indeed, notable for their colorless aspect are the three suitors in A mdo e a luva, a situation that is repeated thirty-four years later in regard to the twins in Esazi e Jacd. Mois6s sees Guiomar's three suitors as different types, in spite of their lack-lusterquality: "Estvaio, sentimental e piegas, Jorge, calculista e vazio, e Luis Alves, comedido, ambicioso e senhor de si" (Mois-s, p. 173). Leo Barrow's description is similarly un-

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complimentary: "Estivao, sentimental, deeply in love, but weak and doomed to lacking in ambition obscurity; Jorge ... and content to vegetate; and Luis Alves, not very romantic, but strong-willed, ambitious, and very sure of himself" (Barrow, p. 212). The twins in Esaui e Jac6 are equally colorless. Their rivalry for Flora's affections, their personal animosity toward each other, and their political polemics are not convincing. A solid, ringing, and bitter attack of jealousy in both these novels could have made the characterscome alive for the reader. Jealousy is perhaps the only negative trait in another of Machado's first-period characters, Esticio (Ressurreigao), and it could be considered a welcomed relief to the monotony of his goodness and understanding. Jealousy could have been the dominant theme in laid Garcia. There was no spark, however, to ignite the highly explosive situation created by the presence of so many jealous hearts and innocent individuals under the same roof a great deal of the time. There were Estela, Jorge, Iaiai Garcia, Luis Garcia, and at times the reprehensible Proc6pio Dias. Moises does not refer directly to jealousy in the novel, but touches on these matters: the "amor fruste" of Jorge and Estela; Iaii's concern with the "perdida de ascendancia moral em casa";Iaia's knowledge of the previous relationshipbetween Jorge and Estela; and Luis's marriageto Estela. Moises calls Iai4 the precursor of Capitu; the former is a cold and calculating female who uses her heart and her head to solve the problem existing around her. Her marriageto Jorge is the best solution to this problem, but it is not dictated by any erotic desire as is the case with Capitu (Moises, p. 176). It should be noted that Iaia's jealousy is an obsession, which describes the jealousy of all the affected characters in Machado's first period, but in his second phase obsessive jealousy is deepened into an awesome force in the lives of his personages. BrnisCubas' jealousy is responsible for

bringing out his true character. It also brings into clear focus the personality of Ltbo Neves and one of Machado's most immoral female characters, Virgilia. The latter is described by Cardoso as being a beautiful creatureat first, then "apetitosa," a person who passively accepts a first lover, then marries another man, and almost immediately gives herself to her first lover "sem qualquer drama intimo, provivelmente sem paixio, como simples joguetes de estimulantes vulgares"(Cardoso, pp. 3940). Virgilia is a puzzle to Bras, however, for he observes that at L6bo's funeral Virgilia's tears are genuine. Bris must have wondered about the jealousy he had experienced; were his jealous tantrums just wasted emotional energy? That is, Virgilia had never told Bris that she loved her husband; she had given herself to Bris with no reservations; L6bo had not thought was worth the sacrificeof his politiVirgilia cal career; and now Virgilia's grief at her husband's funeral appears to be authentic. The episode recalls another occasion when Bras must have considered his jealousy a waste of emotional strength. At the age of seventeen Bris had taken Marcela as his mistress and once became violently jealous when Marcela admitted having had a previous lover. Bras recalls that years later he saw Marcela again and that her diseasescarredface had shocked and revolted him. He says that he wondered how he could have spent so much money on her. Surely he must have been chagrined to recall that he was once jealous of her other lovers. Marcela's role, although small, makes possible a good comparativestudy of Bris as a boy of seventeen and as an adult. The degeneration is obvious. Jealousy plays a large part in the character development in Quincas Borba. In no other novel does Machado afflict so many people with jealousy, and in no other novel are so many innocent people touched by such intense jealousy. Nevertheless, Agrippino Grieco reacts adversely to these colorful characters. They do not

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conduta, respectivamente, de Rubiao e Vieira,

develop "dentro de um perfeito nexo de 16gica"; the changes in the characters, rather than being subtle, are fast and brusque.'2 However when one considers the intensity of such elements as jealousy (in Rubido, Tonica, and Sofia) and greed (in Sofia, Palha, Camacho, and Rubido, when the last learns of his inheritance), it should be acceptable that these rapid changes are logical. More important,if the element of jealousy alone were removed from the story, many of the characterswe know so well would appear less real and certainly less memorable. Grieco admits that Sofia is well portrayed, but her vacillations distract the critic. From time to time she is attractedto Rubido, but suddenly disdain or some other form of revulsion drives her away from him (Grieco, p. 75). Sofia's complex and colorful personality is due in large part to her jealousy. In between the tides of jealousy she wavers between Rubido and Carlos Maria, between feelings of revulsion, on the one hand, the frustration,on the other, of realizing that her own husband is too busy with his financial dealings to worry about her behavior. Octivio Mangabeiraprefers to place part of the blame for Sofia's weak attempts at adultery on Palha. e Carlota, no conto Sofia,em "Quincas Borba," aos maridos a denunciam 0 Casode Romauldo,
didas ao verificarem que os esposos, Cristiano

procurandoseduzi-las;e ambas se sentem ofenque tinham

deixam antes levar pelo

da segunda,se Palha, da primeira, Romualdo,

os amigos que os em manter boas relan6escom inter.sse '
traiam. Com tal marido, ndo muito de estra-

tamb6m de beleza, em namtro com Carlos Maria.13 Neither is it any wonder that Virgilia is willing to continue her illicit relationship with BraisCubas indefinitely, since L6bo Neves values his political careermore than the sanctity of marriage. Carlos Maria and Maria Benedita, both of whom claim a lot of Sofia's thoughts, are repulsive to Grieco. Carlos Maria is "um jovem vaidoso, rico, elegante, cheio

nhar que encontremos, mais tarde, Sofia, tipo

de ambiq6es,"and Maria Benedita is "desgraciosa, feia, canhestra" (Grieco, p. 76). But were it not for the jealousy and envy generating from two other people, Sofia and Rubido, their characterizationswould lose force. The jealousy of Sofia and Rubido also aids in the revelation of the good qualities of D. Fernanda. Even Grieco admits the latter'sunusual character:Fernanda"ainda vale por um rasgo luminoso, e enterneceme a piedade que demostra em relagqoao cachorro Quincas Borba . . ." (Grieco, p. 76). Another critic, Cardoso, also notes the good, and therefore unusual, character of D. Fernanda, "a boa alma da hist6ria" (Cardoso, p. 186). Machado is cruel in his treatmentof D. Tonica who perhaps enjoys the reader's sympathy even though she nourishes a hatred and jealousy of almost cosmic proportions for Sofia. Matos says that Tonica is an example of the passionate woman who never succeeds in getting her man. She has ardor in her heart and is willing to give herself to a man, to any man, but when she appears to have succeeded at last, her man dies. Matos sees a final spiteful thrust of the author's knife in the narrator'sdescriptionof Tonica's last hope, Rodrigues. The latter has "nenhuma expressdo masculina," Matos notes. On such women as Tonica, Machado afflictseternal spinsterhood (Matos, p. 206). The addition of jealousy to Tonica's personality reveals the depths of her desperation. While jealousy is revealing Bento's true character, it is bringing into sharp focus the object of his jealousy, Capitu. The effect of the protagonist-narrator's accusations against her has been to move the critics to see Capitu rather as Bento sees her or as he wants her to be seen. Pereira da Silva calls her the completion of the theme of adultery in Sofia. The latter "ndovai alem do que a fidelidade conjugal imp6e a uma esp6sa usada desonestamente pelo marido para facilitar neg6cios lucrativos."4 While Sofia never commits adul-

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tery, Pereira da Silva maintains, the reader can ascertain from the youthful acts of Capitu that she, Capitu, is destined to do so.15 The critic bases this statement on Capitu's great self-control, citing her cool behaviorwhen she and Bento are surprised several times by the appearanceof Capitu's parents. She is probably guilty of adultery, just as Bento says, but she is not a passionate woman.'16 Astrojildo Pereira also sees Capitu as a complex and sinister woman, a "tipo de extraordiniria vitalidade, soma e fusio de muiltiplas personalidades," a kind of "supermulher"in the skin of a perverted and clever creature."7In the absence of absolute proof of her adultery, it should be impossible to accept Bento's word about her or the critics' adverse opinions about her. These opinions, based solely on Bento's account of the story, have no doubt distracted the attention of critics from her good points. For example, a point in Capitu's favor is that she never turns Ezequiel against Bento, even after she and the boy leave the family home after that final argument. Helen Caldwell's Brazilian Othello is a departure from the traditional approach to the study of Dom Casmurro in that she regards Bento's story with considerable doubt. Keith Ellis calls Caldwell's study the "establishing of the essential jealousy of Bentinho by tracing his development into the jealous, self-centered Casmurro. ." Ellis adds that there are "sufficient maniinstances of our protagonist-narrator's festation of jealousy to evoke the possibility that it could be at the root of his final accusation of Capitu."18Whether or not Capitu is guilty, it must be recognized that her behavior while under this sustained attack of jealousy is certainly human. Machado, in abandoning the theme of jealousy after Dom Casmurro, discarded a powerful novelistic element, one that had served him well. He left but one mystery in all his novels in regard to the theme:

was Capitu guilty of adultery? Caldwell states that the author left it up to the individual reader to decide her guilt or innocence for himself (Caldwell, p. 158). Many critics accept Bento's word and find Capitu guilty. Among these are Alfredo Pujol,19 Octivio Mangabeira (p. 20), Pereira da Silva,20 Eloy Pontes,21 and Jos6-Maria Belo.22 Capitu's accuser, however, has escaped general scrutiny until fairly recently. Caldwell centers her attention on Bento and points out that "the guilt or innocence of Capitu depends entirely upon the testimony of Santiago, whose jealousy alone renders that testimony suspect" (Caldwell, p. 12). Caldwell sees the seed of DomnCasmurro, the "Othello theme," or jealousy, in Ressurreig~io and wonders how FRlix would have told his story if he had had the opportunity to do so, as did Bento (Caldwell, p. 19). Licia Miguel-Pereira also comments on FMlixand Bento, noting that there is a great deal of difference between them: "Um e ciumento segundo as regras de composigqoromantica,o outro o e segundo a auto-observagqo de Machado de Assis."23 One of the greatest differences between FRlixand Bento is that the former realizes that his jealousy is the cause of his final unhappiness, while Bento, on the other hand, blames Capitu for everything. It would be difficult to maintain that Machado could have refrained from afflicting his characters with jealousy and still have created such a vividly portrayed gallery of types and individuals. His puppets would still be universal types, but they would have lost some of the depth and color that make them memorable. Why Machado used jealousy in the way that he did, instead of some other human failing, to achieve the same strength of portrayal of his characters may never be known. But since the intensity of jealousy in his novels parallels periods of pessimism and optimism in his life, we believe that jealousy, like other negative elements, re-

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flects Machado's views of humanity and his relationship with it. The author's use of the jealousy motif does not necessarily reveal jealousy as he might have experienced it in matters of love. It does prove that he knew human nature well enough to use the theme very effectively in his fiction. Joao Gaspar Sim6es, discussing the personality traits of fictional characters in general, states that a writer does not have to be a jealous person in order to reflect the element in his works. It is enough to have merely experienced it: "Minutos de chiime dao ao romancista o tom desse insidioso sentimento."24 The writer, continues Simfes, should be capable of every feeling regarding his characters (Sim6es, p. 62). Helen Caldwell finds many significant traits of characterin Machado'sworks, among them ambition, vanity, insatiability, pride, and fear (p. 161). Some of these elements suggest a more negative than positive feeling, and the remainder, in excess, would have the same effect. Since the writer is analyzing his own fictional creatures, one might wonder if the inclusion of such elements as those listed by Caldwell indicates that the author hates his characters. Machado seems to have done so, and his hatred is rooted in his own life experiences, in the opinion of Simbes who remarks that "Machado despreza t6da a humandade, incluindo le pr6prio"(Sim6es, p. 63). ArmandoCorreia Pacheco also believes that Machado hated his characters.The critic claims that when one of Machado's personages does a good deed the author takes revenge on him sooner or later, exposing him to ridicule, scorn, and ingratitude.25 If indeed Machado hated his characters out of personal animosity, it is clear that his feelings toward them were not constant from 1872 (Ressurreigdo) to 1908 (Memorial de Aires). There is a great deal of difference among the charactersof his two periodsof writing. Livia, Guiomar, Helena, Iaii Garcia, and Estela (first period) do

not shock one's sensibility as do Marcela, Virgilia, and Sofia (second period). Significantly, the defects in both male and
female characters increase

after Iaid Garcia. This can be verified by comparing Fdlix, Luis Alves, EstvaSo, Jorge (A mdo e a luva) Estaicio,and Jorge (laid Garcia) of the first period with Brais Cubas, L6bo Neves, Palha, and Camacho of the second period. In his "romantic" phase Machado creates characterswho become fully-developed individuals later on, such as the parasite Viana of Ressurreigdo who is the precursor of other parasites, specifically Freitas of Quincas Borba and Jose Dias of Dom Casmurro.The human parasitein general in Machado'sfirstperiod is a sharp contrastto the masterparasitesof his second phase, but only through Dom Casmurro. Perpetua (Esaui e Jacd), although a "dependent,"renders a valid service in return for her keep, and Memorial de Aires has no character resembling the usual Machadian human parasite. When all the characters from Ressurreigao to Memorial de Aires are considered, it becomes clear that what appears to be the author's hatred for his characters is most pronounced in the novels that appeared between 1881 and 1901. During these two decades only one character seems to have escaped almost completely the author's condemnation, Fernanda, of Quincas Borba. Brds Cubas seems to be the point of Machado's darkest outlook on life, and one might wonder where such a state of mind began. It is present to a small degree in Machado's first four novels, but it is outweighed by a more balanced point of view. Iaid Garcia, the novel of transition from the "romantic" to the "psychological" phase, is also the bridge between relative personal happiness and great pessimism in the author's life. Augusto Meyer relates that Mario de Alencar once asked Machado how, after writing Helena, he could write laid Garcia. Meyer states Machado's answer was that he had lost all his illu-

dramatically

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PARAM CHARLES murro), with those of Machado's final two novels, (Esaci e Jacd and Memorial de Aires), reveals a lengthening list of people seemingly free of the author's spite. Easily recognized as examples of this different treatment are Natividade, Aires, Fiddlia, Aguiar, D. Carmo, and Tristao. The reversal of the author's state of mind and the pessimistic outlook of Brds Cubas can also be given a reasonable explanation. By the time the much revised Quincas Borba was ready for its first publication in book form, the two greatest national problemsof Machado'sage had been resolved. The abolition of slavery was accomplished in 1888, and the Republic was established in 1889. Surely Machado, who had taken no active part in either campaign, was relieved. He had been viciously attacked by partisansof both sides in both issues, but especially bitter was the abuse heaped on him by the abolitionists. The position of both sides was that any man who did not support them actively was their enemy. Raymond Sayers remarksthat Machado might have been expected to come to the aid of the slaves, lending them his talents as did many other gifted mulattoes. After all, during the first twenty years of his life he owed "almostall the affection he had received, almost all the opportunities he was given, to people of his own race, to other mulattoes."29We do not believe that Machado failed to aid the abolitionists because he was indifferent to the plight of the slaves, as has been stated by some critics, for example, Octivio Branddo.30 Nor do we believe that he was an "absenteeist"because he was a pure man of letters, as Jos#-MariaBelo (p. 34) and Erico Verissimo31have said. In our article cited above we stated our opinion that it was Machado'sepilepsy that caused him to shrink from controversial issues (Param, pp. 438-40). Thus, when Abolition and the Republic became realities, a great threat to Machado's mental and physical health was removed. Then, in 1891, the death of his mulatto stepmother

sions "sobre os homens."26 Perhaps most significant in the search for a reason for the author's changed outlook regarding life and humanity is the recurrenceof his epilepsy around 1877. The renewed onslaught of this ancient malady did indeed alter Machado's views on life and affected his writings, in the opinion of Luiz Viana Filho (pp. 109-10). Afranio Coutinho, speaking of the bitterness to which Machado's epilepsy gave rise, maintains that the author subconsciously sought revenge on life. Machado struck out in his works, "demostrando um odio sistematizado da vida."27It is known that before and during the writing of Brds Cubas Machado suffered other setbacks in his health and experienced serious difficulties with his vision. All these things could have been the cause of the cynicism, sarcasm, pessimism, and rejection of humanity in Brads Cubas. Quincas Borba seems to be the point at which Machado began to show distinctly opposite and diverging views on humanity. We have noted the presence of Fernanda, a woman with no defects, the only true friend that Rubido has after losing his fortune and his sanity. Pujol sees a change in the author in regard to another character in the novel, the most unusual actor, the dog. "Ao cabo da narrativa,parecem-lhe tio frivolas, tdo odiosas e detestaveis as principais figuras da agao, que a sua sympathia se volta para o triste animal, que amanheceu morto na rua, depois de ganir infinitivamente em busca de novo dono" (Pujol, pp. 213-14). These two diverging tendencies did not continue to coexist for long, for the one representing a softening attitude toward humanity slowly gained its victory. Alceu Amoroso Lima notes the slowly developing triumph of the more compassionate attitude: "Sofia vem depois de Virgilia. Natividade depois de Sofia. D. Carmo depois de Natividade."28 A comparison of the characters between 1881 and 1901, (Brds Cubas, Quincas Borba, and Dom Cas-

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Subsequent page references in the represented the destruction of the final p 211-17. y of the text refer to this edition. link with his past, a past that he conde Assis, En3ClotildeWilson, "Machado sidered shameful. Shortly afterward, hav- comiast of Lunacy," Hispania, 22 (May 1949): ing already received many minor honors 198-201. 4Luiz Viana Hilho, A vida de Machado de for literature, Machado received the high- Assis Paulo: Livraria Martins Edittra, est honor of his calling when he was 1964), (Sio pp. 144-45. Subsequent page references elected to serve as the first president of the in the body of the text refer to this edition. Brazilian Academy of Letters. This posi5Lindolfo Gomes, "Vocabulirio de Machado de Assis," Machado de Assis (estudos e ensaios) tion was to be his for life. (Rio de Janeiro: F. Briguiet e Cia., Editores, Before the publication of Esacze Jacd, 1940), p. 161. Also Jose Barretto Filho, Introducio a Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Machado's wife entered her final illness. Livraria Agir EditOra, 1947), p. 13. of the of Her death and deaths many 6Jose Bettencourt Machado, Machado of BraMachado's old friends, combined with a zil (New York: Bramerica, 1953), p. 73. 7H. Pereira da Silva, A megalomania literaria vastly changed Rio de Janeiro, created the mood for Memorial de Aires. Jose Barretto de Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Edit6ra Aurora, 1949). Filho calls this melancholic work "um sCharles Param, "The case for Quincas Borba The as confession," Hispania, 50 (Sept. 1967): depoimento em favor com a vida.""32 bitterness of the novels of 1881, 1891, and 430-41. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 1901 was gone; time was still the enemy 9MArio Matos, Machado de Assis, o homen e of man, but death held no terror for Ma- a obra (Sao Paulo: Companhia EditBra Nacional, chado de Assis. Life had been good to him, 1939), p. 193. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. after all. STUDY WE HAVE ANALYZED the element of jealousy in Machado'snovels. The remarks of various critics regarding the author's possible views on life have been noted, and we have drawn attention to those important dates and events that could have contributed to the author's changed state of mind. Of great importance also are the loss of Carolina and so many good friends, the new aspect of Rio de Janeiro, and the many honors he was accorded in the latter years of his life. When all of these things are considered, it must seem logical that Machado's use of jealousy as a novelistic theme could have been a reflection of his own changing concepts of life and not solely the artistic employment of a common human failing. NOTES 'Helen Caldwell, The Brazilian Othello of Machado de Assis (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1960), p. 1. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 2Leo L. Barrow, "Ingratitude in the works of Machado de Assis," Hispania, 49 (May 1966):

IN THIS

1'Wilton Cardoso, Tempo e memdria em Machado de Assis (Belo Horizonte, 1958), pp. 67-68. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 11Massaud Moises, nota preliminar, Machado de Assis Ressurreigao, A mao e a luva, organizacdo, introdulqo, revisio de texto e notas de Massaud Moises, 4a ed. (Sao Paulo: Edittra Cultrix, 1964), p. 30. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 12Agrippino Grieco, Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Conquista, 2a ed., 1960), p. 75. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 130ctivio Mangabeira, Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Sao Paulo, Bahia: Edittra Civilizagqo Brasileira S/A, 1954), p. 33. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 14H. Pereira da Silva, Sdbre os romances de Machado de Assis (ensaio crilico) (Rio de Janeiro: Sociedade Editbra e Grafica Ltda., no date), p. 76. 15Ibid., p. 82. 16Ibid., p. 85. 17Astrojildo Pereira, Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Sao Jose, 1958), p. 24. 18Keith Ellis, "Technique and ambiguity in Dom Casmurro," Hispania, 45 (Sept. 1962): 437. 19Alfredo Pujol, Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jos Olympio, 2a ed., 1934), p. 247. Subsequent page references in the body of the text refer to this edition. 20Pereira da Silva, Sdbre os romances de Machado de Assis, p. 85.

206
21Eloy

CHARLES PARAM
Pontes, A vida contradictdria de Ma-

chado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jos, Olympio Editora, 1939), p. 265.
22Jos&Maria Belo, Inteligdncia do Brazil (ensaios s6bre Machado de Assis) (Sao Paulo:

de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Sdo Jos6, 1959), p. 40.

28Alceu Amoroso Lima, Trds ensaios sdbre Machado de Assis (Belo Horizonte: Livraria

27Afranio Coutinho, A filosofia de Machado

Cia. Edit6raNacional, 1938), p. 57.

Edit6ra Paulo Bluhm, 1941), p. 56.

Cia. Edit6raNacional, 2a ed., 1939), pp. 155-56. FranciscoFranqa,1942), p. 17. Subsequentpage references in the body of the text refer to this edition. f~icio e notas de Armando Correia Pacheco (Washington: Unioo Pan-Americana, 1954), p. 14. 1958 (Rio de Janeiro: LivrariaSao Jos6, 1958), p. 213.
26Augusto Meyer, Machado de Assis, 193525Machado de Assis, romancista, selego, preCaderno de urnmromancista, ensaios (Lisboa: Livraria Popular de
24Jodo Gaspar Sim6es,

23Lucia Miguel-Pereira, Machado de Assis (estudos criticos e biograficos) (Rio de Janeiro:

29Raymond S. Sayers, The Negro in Brazilian literature (New York: The Hispanic Institute

in the United States, 1956), p. 201.

300ctivio Branddo, 0

Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Organizaiao Sim6es Edit6ra, 1957). Branddo'sbooks is an appraisalof Machado de Assis from the Marxist-Leninist point of view, claiming, in effect, that Machado was a product of the capitalist world and thus was indifferent to the sufferingof the slaves. Outline (New York: MacMillan Co., 1945), p. 72.
32See note 5, Barretto Filho, p. 226.

niilista Machado de

31Erico Verissimo,

Brazilian Literature, an

CAN YOU ANSWER YOUR STUDENTS' QUESTIONS ABOUT VOCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES IN LANGUAGES? See Chapter 18 of the AATSP Handbook for Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (D. C. Heath and Co., 125 Spring St., Lexington, Mass. 02178 - $5.78). Reprints of "WHY STUDY SPANISH? IS IT WORTH THE EXTRA EFFORT? SOME GUIDANCE FOR COUNSELORS" by Donald D. Walsh are available at 10P a copy from Prof. Eugene Savaiano, Secretary-Treasurer, AATSP, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas 67208 TWO QUESTIONS Does your school's library take Hispania? Do you have a colleague in Spanish and Portuguese who is not a member of the AATSP?