Description
- Abstract:
- Machado de Assis's metaliterary discourse in ‘Dom Casmurro’ involves both direct self-reference, where the narrator comments explicitly about his message and procedures, and indirect self-reference, where the text's self-definition is to be inferred by the reader. In the latter, metaphor plays an important role. Through both forms of self-reference, the novel exposes its own ambiguity. By saying, in effect, “I am ambiguous,” the work recreates the classical liar paradox, where the observer can only perceive veracity by positing its opposite. Consequently, the question of determinacy or indeterminacy in ‘Dom Casmurro’ becomes itself unanswerable.
- O discurso metaliterário de Machado de Assis em 'Dom Casmurro' envolve tanto a auto-referência direta, em que o narrador comenta explicitamente sua mensagem e procedimentos, quanto a auto-referência indireta, em que a autodefinição do texto deve ser inferida pelo leitor. Nesta última, a metáfora desempenha um papel importante. Através de ambas as formas de auto-referência, o romance expõe sua própria ambigüidade. Ao dizer, com efeito, “sou ambíguo”, a obra recria o paradoxo clássico do mentiroso, em que o observador só pode perceber a veracidade ao postular o seu oposto. Conseqüentemente, a questão do determinismo ou indeterminação em "Dom Casmurro" torna-se irrespondível.
Citation
Dixon, Paul B.,
"Self-reference and paradox in 'Dom Casmurro'"
(1988).
BRASIL/BRAZIL: A Journal of Brazilian Literature.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/ak7d-1p60
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BRASIL/BRAZIL: A Journal of Brazilian Literature
...BRASIL/BRAZIL: A Journal of Brazilian Literature (ISSN: 2526-4885), founded in 1988, publishes scholarly articles on Brazilian literature and in Comparative Literature with a focus on Brazilian literature, as well as book reviews, interviews with writers, English-language translations of Brazilian literature …