Delírios e deleites: leitura dos diálogos de Machado de Assis com John Milton em Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas / Deliriums and Delights: the reading of the dialogues of Machado de Assis with John Milton in Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas

Resumo: Os textos de Machado de Assis e principalmente seus romances estabelecem muitos diálogos com diferentes escritores e tradições. Entretanto, a forma que Machado de Assis escolheu para se referir ao poeta inglês do século XVII, John Milton, no seu romance, Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, merece uma atenção cuidadosa. Nesse romance, o autor brasileiro também se refere a Milton, mas não de maneira direta ou nomeada; ao contrário, as alusões a Milton são indiretas, criando uma composição textual com o poeta inglês e o convidando, de maneira ausente, a também fazer parte da narrativa. Machado de Assis, na elaboração dos delírios e deleites de Brás Cubas, reflete sobre seu ato de composição e estabelece diálogos também com o poeta inglês, como uma tentativa de proliferar sentidos da obra de Milton, mais especificamente Paradise Lost, no contexto literário brasileiro. Esses diálogos serão analisados com base na ideia de dialogismo de Mikhail Bakhtin (1973, p. 39) que é constitutivo da intertextualidade e desvia o foco das noções de autoria, causalidade e finalidade, e o “texto passa a ser visto como uma absorção de e uma resposta a um outro texto”. Assim, é pertinente dizer que Machado de Assis absorve elementos de composição do universo miltoniano e responde a eles nas Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, revivendo, em sua criação literária, suas experiências como leitor desse poeta inglês.Palavras-chave: Machado de Assis; Brás Cubas; dialogue; Milton.Abstract: The texts of Machado de Assis and mainly his novels established many dialogues with different writers and traditions. However, the way Machado de Assis chose to refer to the English poet of the seventeenth century, John Milton, on his Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, demands a careful observation. In this novel, the Brazilian writer refers to Milton but not in a direct manner; on the contrary, the allusions to Milton are indirect, creating a textual composition within the English poet and inviting him, in an absent way, to be also part of the narrative. It seems that Machado de Assis, in the elaboration of Brás Cubas’s deliriums and delights, reflects upon his act of composition and establishes a textual dialogue with the English poet, as an attempt to proliferate the meanings of Milton’s oeuvre, more specifically Paradise Lost, in the Brazilian literary context. These dialogues will be analyzed based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s studies on the idea of dialogism, which is a constituent of the concept of intertextuality and deviates the focus on the notions of authorship, causality and finality, with writing working “as a reading of the anterior literary corpus and the text as an absorption of and reply to another text” (1973, p. 39). Thus, it is possible to say that Machado de Assis absorbs some elements of composition from Milton’s creative universe and answers him on his Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, reviving them in his literary creation and in his experiences as a reader of the English poet.Keywords: Machado de Assis; Brás Cubas; dialogue; Milton.

Artistic, Aesthetic and Genre Originality of Women's Prose

This article is aimed at dealing with the artistic, aesthetic and genre originality of women's prose in Russia and Uzbekistan. The analysis revealed fascinating analogies and issues, in terms of the formulation and resolution to the subject matter: "shattered dreams", "paradise lost", the search for the meaning of life, "little man", faith and lack of faith, male infidelity and the fear of loneliness, "mother and child", "life and death", female destiny, etc.

Sataniczność kreacji bohatera w Arabie Juliusza Słowackiego

This article attempts to read Juliusz Słowacki’s Arab from the comparative perspective of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The protagonist of Słowacki’s oriental tale, who is a variation on the Byronic hero, also shows similarities with Milton’s Satan: unceasing motion, obsession of revenge, loneliness, axiological preference of evil. The analysis of those similarities creates a new interpretative context for Arab, which was hitherto regarded as a superficial study of the pathological psyche or a caricature of the Byronic model.

Milton's Manly Angels

<p>The masculine nature of the angels in Paradise Lost, in conjunction with their sexuality as revealed in Book VIII, prompted C. S. Lewis to try and explain away, not entirely convincingly, any potential “homosexual promiscuity” in his Preface to the epic. But other critics are unconcerned about the angels’ sexuality, probably because, unlike Lewis, they see them as essentially immaterial beings. In what follows I argue that a complete understanding of the angels’ sexuality must rest on Milton’s gradual revelation of the angels’ morphic substance, critical to their sexuality and gender identity. Milton’s use of the conventions associated with classical pastoral in depicting the angels suggests a male homosocial model analogous with the learning institutions of Milton’s own historical context – helpful when it comes to establishing the type of society, and relationships, in the heaven of Paradise Lost. Similarly, an exploration of bi-erotic elements occurring elsewhere within the Miltonic canon helps contextualise the bisexual potential of angelic desire. With these things in mind, a comprehensive understanding of the angelic sexuality can be achieved through close study of instances of desire, and sexuality, in Paradise Lost. The strong parallel between the angels, and Adam and Eve infers the potential for their descendants to evolve into a similar state of intimacy free of “Of membrane, joynt, or limb, exclusive barrs”.</p>

Milton's Manly Angels

<p>The masculine nature of the angels in Paradise Lost, in conjunction with their sexuality as revealed in Book VIII, prompted C. S. Lewis to try and explain away, not entirely convincingly, any potential “homosexual promiscuity” in his Preface to the epic. But other critics are unconcerned about the angels’ sexuality, probably because, unlike Lewis, they see them as essentially immaterial beings. In what follows I argue that a complete understanding of the angels’ sexuality must rest on Milton’s gradual revelation of the angels’ morphic substance, critical to their sexuality and gender identity. Milton’s use of the conventions associated with classical pastoral in depicting the angels suggests a male homosocial model analogous with the learning institutions of Milton’s own historical context – helpful when it comes to establishing the type of society, and relationships, in the heaven of Paradise Lost. Similarly, an exploration of bi-erotic elements occurring elsewhere within the Miltonic canon helps contextualise the bisexual potential of angelic desire. With these things in mind, a comprehensive understanding of the angelic sexuality can be achieved through close study of instances of desire, and sexuality, in Paradise Lost. The strong parallel between the angels, and Adam and Eve infers the potential for their descendants to evolve into a similar state of intimacy free of “Of membrane, joynt, or limb, exclusive barrs”.</p>