Among second lieutenants and magicians: the satirical representation of Brazil in short stories by Machado de Assis and Murilo Rubião
Realism, Satire, Literary System, Machado de Assis, Murilo Rubião
Machado de Assis (1839 – 1908) and Murilo Rubião (1916 – 1991) are two authors who apparently present literary productions with very different characteristics. However, analyzing them from the perspective of the concept of Literary System, proposed by the critic Antonio Candido (1918 – 2007), and considering that they wrote about Brazil in the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively, it is observed that, holders of unique productions, Murilo Rubião was a follower of Machado de Assis regarding the use of some elements, among which satire as a creative method. Thus, this work, based on the discussion proposed by the Hungarian philosopher György Lukács (1885 – 1971) in “The question of satire”, will analyze how the satirical element manifests itself in the productions of these authors based on the analysis of the short stories “ Ideas of Canary” and “Pecuniary Anecdote”, by Machado de Assis, in addition to “Teleco, the Bunny” and “Memoirs of the Accountant Pedro Inácio”, by Murilo Rubião.