"IN THE ARK" AND THE MACHADIAN MIDRASH

Abstract

Machado de Assis's work has been analyzed from different perspectives and fields of knowledge. One possibility of theoretical analysis of the Machadian work is from the perspective of religious studies and theology, especially when considering that Machado’s extensive – and almost always ironic – use of biblical texts in his short stories, novels and chronicles has been widely observed. This articles aims at showing how in "Na arca," (In the ark), which is part of the 1882 publication, Papéis avulsos, Machado presents his own version of the biblical narrative of the flood in the perspective of midrash, one (of many) Jewish hermeneutical approaches to the biblical text. However, the Machadian midrash is not explanatory, just like the Jewish one. Rather, it is ironic, exploring human wretchedness and human failures.

Machado de Assis; Jewish biblical reading; Midrash; biblical hermeneutics; irony