Originally posted on: 18/09/2013
Reedited in: 13/07/2019
Reedited in: 13/07/2019
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| © Wetah | DeviantArt |
I've easily found Dom Casmurro: there was an old version of the book at home, therefore I couldn't read because it was in a bad state. At that time, it didn't really matter much, although recently (seven years later) I questioned myself "why some books are 'classic of the literature'?". So, I've started to read some of those books just to reflect on it, and that way I've come to Dom Casmurro again.
I had known some Machado de Assis' books aside Dom Casmurro, I've started to like his way of writing and it became one of the those I like the most, I can't really explain why though. Before starting the comments about the book itself, let's know more about the most talented and famous Brazilian writer below:
The Author
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| Machado de Assis in his 50s Photo by: Projeto Machado de Assis Real |
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was born on July 21th 1839 in Rio de Janeiro. His family was financially poor and lived in Morro do Livramento, suburb from Rio de Janeiro, by the middle of the 19th Century. Machado de Assis had a difficult childhood because part of his family passed away: his mother, his siblings, and later, his father. In his 20s, Machado started to work as a collaborator at the Marmota Fluminense Newspaper in 1855. His career as a writer starts slowly, he has worked as a reviewer, editor, collaborator, and critical theatrical in some newspapers from 1858 to 1867.
Later, Machado assumes some public offices, among them, as a Cabinet officer of the Minister of Agriculture. In 1886, Machado de Assis along with writer friends manages the first preparatory session to raise the Brazilian Academy of Letters [Academia Brasileira de Letras - ABL]. One year later, Machado became the first president of the Academy. The writer has lived between the end of the Monarchy Era in Brazil and the beginning of the Republican Era, thus there is a lot about Brazilian politics in his writing. Machado passed away in 1908 with the age of 69, four years later the death of his beloved wife Carolina Augusta Xavier de Novais.
Dom Casmurro (1899)
The narrative isn't long and the initial pages have the Romantic Literature way of writing. At first, the story starts with the childhood of the main characters, which seemed silly to me as a first impression. But, I know Machado is Machado, and he wouldn't write something silly without a proper reason. Dom Casmurro has a background in the 1870s/80s in the Rio de Janeiro City: Machado's favorite scenery. His stories that I've read usually have Rio de Janeiro as a scenery, even have the name of the neighborhoods and the name of Avenues, Streets, and stuff.
When I've started to read Dom Casmurro I hadn't seen anything special about it, nowadays I have a different point of view. The initial parts of the story seemed so boring, nowadays I see the narrative has the objective to build the characters' image in a way, then that impression is modified gradually by the narrator character: Bento Santiago (Bentinho). This fact made the reader reflect on the conceptions and impressions about the Bentinho and his wife, Capitú - the main characters. With the modifications in the narrative, the reader has to reflect on the story itself too: do you agree if Bentinho's point of view about his reality or not? Are conflicts on the outside or inside of Bentinho's mind?
The famous stretch
There is a famous description of the main character Capitú along with the narrative: "the eyes of an oblique and covert gypsy". After reading the whole book, the reader can reflect on this description and if it fits Capitú or not. This stretch is related to the main subject in Dom Casmurro: the doubt about the fidelity of Capitú, which collaborates with the famous controversy created by Machado de Assis - the most famous in Brazilian Literature.
The famous stretch
There is a famous description of the main character Capitú along with the narrative: "the eyes of an oblique and covert gypsy". After reading the whole book, the reader can reflect on this description and if it fits Capitú or not. This stretch is related to the main subject in Dom Casmurro: the doubt about the fidelity of Capitú, which collaborates with the famous controversy created by Machado de Assis - the most famous in Brazilian Literature.
The Eternal and Famous Controversy
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| In the image, Bentinho, Capitú, and Escobar wait for the DNA test |
As I said before, Dom Casmurro has the main subject created along with the narrative: "Has Capitú betrayed his husband?" This doubt made the readers have different conclusions about the narrative and it has caused a lot of discussion among them even nowadays. The doubt about Capitú fidelity is built in the narrative character of Bentinho, so the readers see the reality through Bentinho's point of view, his reflections, and his subjective impressions.
Bentinho starts to think Capitú has betrayed him with his best friend, Escobar, who is married to Sancha. Therefore, there are two scenes where Bentinho has a doubt about Capitú's fidelity based on his interpretation of her actions and expressions also based on his point of view. The first: in the scene of the Escobar's death, Bentinho affirms he could see "the Sancha's pain in Capitú's eyes". At that point, as a reader, we can just have de doubt, we can't say for sure it was the real motive of her suffering because Bentinho's interpretation is what we have. The second scene: the moment Bentinho starts to think his son is so similar to his best friend, which is collaborated by Capitú saying she thinks the same. Thus, I think Machado has a clear objective: let the doubt be.
My impressions
While reading, I've found myself bored at some parts of the narrative, mainly at the Romantic part in the beginning. Although, in the final parts has a strong climax: the transition from Romantic writing to Realistic writing: the first is fading and being replaced by the second one. It is surely impressive.
Dom Casmurro was written with a narrator character, so everything the reader knows is the facts through Bentinho's perspective, so we can't be sure if the facts are exactly as he says, for example, does Bentinho's son really has the appearance so similar with Escobar? It's the narrator's character perspective, the only evidence we have. The "controversy" starts there: everyone has an opinion about Bentinho's perspective.
At first, I thought Dom Casmurro was an expression of the contradiction perspective between Romantic and Realistic style. Although, I started to think a little different after checking the chronology of the books released by Machado de Assis. Dom Casmurro was published in 1899, after the other books with Realistic tendency: Posthumous Memories of Brás Cubas [Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas] (1881) and Detached Papers [Papéis Avulsos] (1882), therefore I questioned myself why he would come back to the Romantic way of writing in Dom Casmurro? The best answer would be the criticism, finally, Realistic authors criticize Romantic writing. The final parts of the novel damage all the Capitú's image created by the narrator character Bentinho, in a way he destroys all the enchantment of his romantic relationship with her.
Finally, Dom Casmurro is considered a Brazilian Literature Classic because of his content, the fabulous writing, and, mainly, the psychological conflict created by Machado de Assis, which made him the expert when it concerns about exploring the human conduct. Dom Casmurro is available in English as an e-book on Amazon (here) and a previous version is available on GoogleBooks (here). Don't hesitate to know about this fantastic novel.
See you at the next post!
References and Images Sources
Dom Casmurro - Martin Claret: 7ª Edição.
