Journal Article

Machado de Assis and Milton: Possible Dialogues

Miriam Mansur

2017

Overview

[...]the allusion to the Polycrates myth and the Miltonic elements are evidence of another Machadian creational technique, an appropriation of the idea of an Other or Others in order to generate his own creation. Reading under erasure leaves the dynamic unresolved and ideas of dependency or inferiority of one text in relation to the other, in this case Machado de Assis's and Milton's texts, are beside the point. [...]a new possibility is revealed: a relationship of supplementation, the destination of texts. Machado de Assis's direct and indirect references to Milton propose an act of reading that goes beyond a fixed moment; they demand movement, a digression, a disorder of time, in which meaning always differs. [...]the direct Machadian references to Milton as an \"immense poet\" (The hand and the glove) who deserves \"the admiration of men for . . . [the] old English father\" (\"Polycrates's ring\") call into question Machado de Assis's judgment of the English poet as someone who represents a sense of greatness, suggesting a search for readings and possibilities yet to come, a fact that the general public in the nineteenth century Brazil may not have been able to experience. The notion of precedence-the pivot of a rebellion, a motif of envy, discord, and fall-goes through several plays on meaning in the works of Milton and Machado de Assis, from the heavenly order to the very act of creation, be it divine or literary. [...]the traditions of the two writers establish a dialogue, occupying a similar position in literary studies, because their texts transgress temporal limitations, geographical frontiers, and/or authorial control.

• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press,Penn State University Press
• Subject: Allegory / Allusion / Ambiguity / American literature / Authors / Authorship / Bloom, Harold (1930-2019) / Brazilian literature / British & Irish literature / Derrida, Jacques / Dialogue / Disorders / English literature / Epic literature / Fate / Intertextual Effects / Irony / Jewish literature / Judgment / Latin American literature / Literary characters / Literary criticism / Literary devices / Literary influences / Literary studies / Literary translation / Logic / Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria (1839-1908) / Milton, John (1608-1674) / Mythology / Narrative techniques / Narratives / Novels / Old English / Opera / Paradise / Plagiarism / Plot (Narrative) / Poetry / Polyarchy / Readers / Short stories / Studies / Symbolism / Symbols / Theater / Time / Writers