POLITICAL REPRESENTATIONS IN ESAÚ E JACÓ, BY MACHADO DE ASSIS

Abstract

Examining the relationship between literature and politics shows how these two areas are closely linked and influence each other. This work addresses an example of this relationship, based on the work Esau and Jacob, by Machado de Assis, focusing on regimes of monarchy and republic. Based on Sartre's thinking about engaged literature, it examines how Machado's novel stimulates critical reflection on political issues not only of its time, but from a universal perspective. It is intended to demonstrate that literature is one of the main forms of reflection on politics and its consequences (based on research and analysis of theoretical texts by Aristotle, Franscisco de Assis Barbosa, Alfredo Bosi, Antonio Candido and historians, José Murilho de Carvalho and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda), as it reveals the historical, social and cultural conditions of a given time. The importance of Machado's work is confirmed, both for its correlation with historical events in Brazil and for its profound approach to the human soul.