This text and the following one reproduce, almost unchanged, two lectures I gave at the University of São Paulo, on the 10th and 12th of May 2011, at the invitation of Hélio Guimarães and Vagner Camilo, of the Department of Classical and Vernacular Literature and the Post-graduate Programme in Brazilian Literature. I am most grateful for the opportunity they gave me to expound my ideas in the presence of such a stimulating and generous audience. The changes made are minimal, and insignificant - I have not removed the spoken tone, which is an integral part of both texts. I have only added the necessary references, and added a final paragraph to the second lecture, since it seemed to me that it lacked a necessary conclusion. It may be a little speculative, but since both lectures are parts of an ongoing research project, that seems right enough. Finally, I should say that I am planning to add the complete text of the first, serialised version of Quincas Borba to the excellent editions of the texts of the novels and stories published on the website <www.machadodeassis.net>, created and organised by Marta de Senna, of the Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa, together with an identification of the quotations which only appear in this version, of which there are many. This is intended to facilitate access to a text which is so interesting and so central to the novelist’s development: the two editions of the Comissão Machado de Assis are difficult to find (and ours will be more complete, including the text of the episode published on 15th April 1887, discovered by Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva). The work for this should be completed by May 2012 at the latest.
Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas; Quincas Borba; serialised novel; novel; newspaper column
