Abstract
This paper proposes some considerations on the use of a recent concept for an old metafictional device: from Cervantes to Machado de Assis, many writers have made use of metalepsis, which at times leads a character to complain about the narrative, in the case of Sancho Panza, or at others address the reader, as does Brás Cubas. I propose to analyze how this narrative transgression was exploited by Machado de Assis, who even admits his affiliation to a certain European style in The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, whilst seeking to establish his own specificity. My aim is to show that metalepsis destabilizes the literary game and activates a reader who, in Machado, is no longer the same as the one summoned by the European form of the novel that had served as his model.
Keywords:
Machado de Assis; Brás Cubas; metalepsis; narratology