As crônicas de Machado de Assis e a sociedade brasileira do século XIX: escravidão e política na série Bons Dias!

Abstract

This research investigates the literary work of Machado de Assis's chronicles and the realistic approach to the great events of the end of the 19th century. Focusing in particular on the analysis of the series Bons Dias!, we develop how the author captures the defined lines of the process of struggle against slavery and the uneven and combined rhythm of capitalist development in Brazil, evolving them into the substrate of the composition. Thereunto, we debate the different narrative profiles present in the series that present us with an overview of the different perspectives of the ruling class in its moment of hegemony crisis. The use of ironic and allegorical passages constitutes part of the resources administered by the author to express, within the limits of the genre, the movement of reality in progress: while some colonial legacies remain untouched, the impact of the end of slavery is so profound that it even leads to a regime transition. Bons Dias! represents a milestone in the maturation of Machado de Assis regarding the production of chronicles, a process that is a product of the author's intellectual accumulation.