Machado de Assis is to literature what Pelé is to football. That simple. The writer was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro on June 21, 1839 and also died in Rio de Janeiro, on September 29, 1908. He is the founder of Chair nº. 23 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
Machado de Assis was a chronicler, short story writer, dramatist, journalist, poet, novelist, novelist, critic and essayist. Only geniuses can go through so many genres like that.
In recent weeks, the Caixa Econômica Federal bank has aired an advertisement with a white Machado de Assis. The fact is, the writer was never white.
After realizing the mistake, Caixa informed that it had suspended the airing of its advertisement on TV.
The Bank apologized to the entire population and, in particular, to movements linked to racial causes.
Critics claim that Machado de Assis was “ urban, aristocratic, cosmopolitan, reserved and cynical, he ignored social issues such as Brazil’s independence and the abolition of slavery. He passed away from nationalism, having always set his stories in Rio, as if there was no other place…. The gallery of types and characters he created reveals the author as a master of psychological observation. … His work is divided into two phases, one romantic and the other Parnassian-realist, when he developed an unmistakable disillusioned, sarcastic and bitter style. The mastery of language is subtle and the style is precise, reticent. The pessimistic humor and the complexity of thought, in addition to the distrust of reason (in its Cartesian and Enlightenment sense), make him distance himself from his contemporaries.”
I wonder if the directors of CAIXA and the advertising agency that created the video have ever read anything by Machado de Assis. Certainly not. Which in all respects is a pity.
Finally, I recommend the reading of some works by the great Afro-Brazilian genius (!): Ressurreição, 1872; The Hand and the Glove, 1874; Helena, 1876; Iaiá Garcia, 1878; Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, 1881; Quincas Borba, 1891; Dom Casmurro, 1899; Esau Jacob, 1904; Memorial of Aires, 1908.
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Agenda :
October 4th – Launching of the book “Eu died long ago” at “ October Literário ” – Indaiatuba/SP
October 15th – Launch of the book “Eu died ago” at Livraria Nobel – Salto/SP
November 15 – Launch of the book “Eu morri faz time” at the 1st Meeting of the Academies of Letters and Literary Entities of the RMC – Engenheiro Coelho/SP