This article looks into the place of Machado de Assis in literature and his peculiar treatment of intertextual sources through a careful analysis of three short stories from the collection "Histórias sem data." "The Devil's Church," "An Alexandrian Tale," and "The Academies of Siam" are clearly set apart…

A central theme throughout Machado de Assis's works is the way characters look at each other inside and outside houses. This article argues that vision, race, and houses define his narrative strategies in the short stories "Pai contra Mãe" and "O Caso da Vara," and the novels "Dom Casmurro," "Memórias póstumas de…

Despite apparent connections between Brazilian and Spanish American narratives, comparative scholarship has only recently begun to investigate actively these important points of contact. In this study, we introduce a vital crossover between the two traditions, involving Juan Rulfo and Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. Rulfo's outspoken affinity for…

In this article, Adria Frizzi provides a brief overview of Fred Ellison's work in the field of literary translation. Frizzi does so by outlining Ellison's trajectory as a translator--highlighting how his choices in this area of his scholarship fit into a broader, multipronged approach to the study and diffusion of the language, culture, and…

In 1960s Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian white middle class embraced the samba music written by working-class blacks as a source of authentic national culture. Cultural mediators, or individuals that bridged sociocultural spheres and negotiated the terms in which work was produced and circulated, were essential to samba's mainstream acceptance. This…

The documentary "Favela Rising" (2005) and its companion narrative, "Culture is Our Weapon" (2010), depict the AfroReggae cultural movement as a break with the past, a means of creating citizenship for Brazilian "favelas." A leitmotif of the film is struggling to end the communities' "paralysis" caused by…

This article analyzes Vinicius de Moraes's "Patria minha" (1948) within the historical context of his first diplomatic post abroad. "Patria minha" was written while Moraes was stationed in Los Angeles as a Consul de Segunda Classe (Ministerio, "Moraes" 385). Moraes's poetic interpretations of Brazil often originated…