Abstract
This chapter offers an analysis of Machado’s representation of female characters through critical readings of his short stories and his understudied theatrical works, particularly Lição da Botânica(Botanical Lesson). More than mere props or foils for his more famous male characters, Machado’s fictional women possess their own narrative logic and their functions are quite distinct from those of his better-known male characters. Machado’s fictional women are also the mechanism by which he shows his reading public (made up largely of women) that a new, more socially conscious woman is part of what the new Brazil needs as it creates its post-emancipation and post-empire era.
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Fitz, E.E. (2016). Writing Womanhood in the New Brazil: Machado’s Lição de Botânica . In: Aidoo, L., Silva, D. (eds) Emerging Dialogues on Machado de Assis. New Directions in Latino American Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54174-1_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54174-1_9
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