A loucura, os loucos e o risível em O Alienista, de Machado de Assis
Madness and humor are prominent themes in the works of Machado de Assis. Drawing on the master’s research conducted by Mendes Junior (2022), this article contributes to scholarship on the short novel The Alienist (1882) by examining how humor is structured through the comic d...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Revista Odisséia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://periodicos.ufrn.br/odisseia/article/view/37623 |
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| Summary: | Madness and humor are prominent themes in the works of Machado de Assis. Drawing on the master’s research conducted by Mendes Junior (2022), this article contributes to scholarship on the short novel The Alienist (1882) by examining how humor is structured through the comic devices of parody, caricature, and satire. To this end, it engages with the studies of Propp (1992), Sá Rego (1989), Foucault (1978), Teixeira (2010), among others. The analysis suggests that the novella’s original publication sought to cultivate a female readership and involve it in philosophical and political debates, employing the figure of the “mad” characters to denounce the excesses of positivist doctrine, the nascent field of psychiatry, moralism, and the illusory pursuit of status in nineteenth-century Brazilian society. |
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| ISSN: | 1983-2435 |