Brás Cubas as Coélet fluminense

Abstract

The Bible occupied an important place in the work of Machado de Assis. The main objective of this article is to explain how the novel Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, a work that marked the beginning of the second phase of the novelistic production of the writer from Rio de Janeiro, incorporates a vision of life, death and the world in general that echoes the Biblical Ecclesiastes. This is the basis for the hypotheses that will guide the text, which is divided into two parts, the second of which is in turn subdivided into two subparts. The first part, Sapiential Literature and Ecclesiastes, seeks to understand the place of the theme of wisdom in the Old Testament of the Bible. Immediately afterwards, there is an opening for the presentation of Ecclesiastes and its place in the biblical canon. The second part, The narrator and the Fluminense Coélet in Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, contains the hypotheses and arguments defended and initially opens up to an understanding of the act of narration in the literary text, as well as the studies that have focused on highlighting the importance of narration. Subsequently, the main parts of the book published in 1881 will be selected, with a view to understanding the presence and inspiration of Ecclesiastes on the narrator. The subjects addressed in the biblical text will also be studied in relation to themes that deal with pessimism and the meaning of life.

Keywords: Bible; Machado de Assis; Ecclesiastes; Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas; Fluminense Coélet