Austen and Assis:
similarities
Janaína Pietroluongo
BRITISH COMMONWEALTH SOCIETY
26 September 2013 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ
[email protected]
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
JANE AUSTEN
(England,1775-1817)
MACHADO DE ASSIS
(Brazil, 1839-1908)
1. GENIUS
• Ability to criticise oneself.
• Highly developed sense of humour.
• Imagination and creativity.
2. ABILITY TO OVERCOME
AUSTEN: female condition,
celibacy, class prejudice.
ASSIS: poverty, illness,
racial prejudice.
3. Both writers transcend
literary schools.
Austen and Assis
reject labels.
4. Influences
• William Shakespeare (15641616)
• Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
• Laurence Sterne (1713-1768)
• Walter Scott (1771-1832)
5. Presence
Jane Austen: 22.900.000
William Shakespeare: 51.200.000
Machado de Assis: 3.010.000
Gustave Flaubert: 2.920.000
CRITICISM
“There may not be a novelist
in English who surpasses
Jane Austen”.
Harold Bloom
“The art and passion of reading
well and deeply is waning, but
[Jane] Austen still inspires
people to become fanatical
readers. ”
Harold Bloom
“I consider Machado the greatest
genius of Brazilian literature in
the XIX century.”.
Harold Bloom
Quotes by Austen
“It´s a truth universally acknowledged,
that a single man in possession of a
good fortune, must be in want of a
wife”
(Pride and Prejudice)
“She was a woman of mean
understanding, little information, and
uncertain temper”
(Pride and Prejudice)
QUOTES BY ASSIS
I know that you, Sir, would prefer a
delicate lie; but I know nothing more
delicate than the truth.
(Fluminense short stories)
UNFORGETTABLE
CHARACTERS
CAPITU
• http://youtu.be/cWk5Dpsl88A
DARCY
• http://youtu.be/nty0udepDG4
LIZZIE
EMMA
• http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=41MHI
JIg6u0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D
41MHIJIg6u0
MACHADO DE ASSIS
1. Ressurrection (1872)
2. The Hand and the
Glove(1874)
3. Helena (1876)
4. Iaiá Garcia (1878)
MACHADO DE ASSIS
2nd PHASE
1.Epitaph of a small winner
2.Philosopher or Dog?
3.Dom Casmurro
4.Esau and Jacob
5.Counselor Aires´Memoirs
THEMES
FAMILY AND MARRIAGE
LOVE
CLASS SYSTEM
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
FRIENDSHIP
READING
WRITING
Spin-offs
Machado de Assis and Jane
Austen´s works continue to inspire
movies, TV series, plays, comics,
cartoons, fanfics and mashups.
The hand and the glove
“ Mrs. Oswald had met the baroness in
1846...she was an intelligent and wise
woman blessed with a good nature...
Mrs. Oswald was the life and soul of
the house...”.
The hand and the glove
- Why did you not call me?
- I must have been asleep, or lost in a
Sir Walter Scott novel.
- Milton – the English tutor sternly
corrected. This morning was dedicated
to Milton. What a great poet, Dona
Guiomar!
Iaiá Garcia
“ The remainder was solely Iaiá´s
deed. Her work split into two parts – a
voluntary one and an uncounscious
one. Voluntary because, the girl, in the
laborious silence of her mind had
created the idea of matching the two
of them...”.
Emma
“Mr. Elton was the very person
fixed on by Emma for driving the
young farmer out of Harriet´s
head. She thought it would be an
excellent match...”
Ressurrection
“ My idea when writing this book was
to put into action that famous
thought by Shakespeare:
Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good
we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt”
REFERENCES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen, Penguin.
Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen, A Life.
Grinberg, Keila. Para Conhecer Machado de Assis.
Stein, Ingrid. Figuras Femininas em Machado de Assis.
Literary Allusions in Jane Austen
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/litallus.html
Citações e Alusões na Ficção de Machado de Assis:
http://www.machadodeassis.net/dtb_index.asp
Mensa Brasil: http://www.mensa.com.br