O problema do nome próprio e o projeto literário machadiano

Abstract

This article analyzes some of the character naming devices in Machado de Assis' early novels. Machado's naming practices are discussed taking into account a history of literary onomasticism, particularly its romantic moment. The intention is to demonstrate that Machado de Assis rejected the current terms in which romantic novelists dealt with the issue of the proper name. Unlike them, he created narrators who do not talk about character names, and practiced homonymy and ironic naming. It should not be concluded, however, that Helena's author was an anti-romantic writer. Another facet of his use of   proper names  makes clear the real terms of Machado de Assis's literary project: not criticism, but  improvement of Romanticism