Abstract
This article aims at discussing ideas of education and formation through the school that Brazilian writer Machado de Assis develops in three of his short stories: "Um cão de lata ao rabo" (A dog with a can in his tail), "O programa" (The program) e "Conto de escola" (School Tale). Our attempt was to highlight how the texts deal with education and schooling in nineteenth-century Brazil, and how they reveal certain concepts of formation that are crucial for understanding the meanings of school and education in the formation of Brazilians at that time. The result of such approach is the perspective that Machado’s works give rise to alternative formative principles as well as an acerbic criticism of the education and schooling provided by Brazilian schools in the nineteenth century.
formation; education; reading; literature; Machado de Assis