A tradição do humor inglês em Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the aesthetic concept of humor underlying Brazilian 19th-century critical readings of Epitaph of a small winner, by Machado de Assis (GUIMARÃES, 2004; ROMERO, 1897). First, we follow the structuring process of the concept of English humour from the Hippocratic theory of humors through Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne (KLIBANSKY; PANOFSKY; SAXL, 1979; WATT, 2010). Finally, we analyze it in Epitaph of a small winner considering the concept of national identity in Brazilian literary milieu at the time (CANDIDO, 2012; MAGALHÃES JÚNIOR, 2008).