This well-researched and theoretically informed book examines the nature and function of the main female characters in the nine novels of Machado de Assis. Earl Fitz argues that Machado had a particular interest in female characterization and that his fictional women became increasingly sophisticated and complex as he matured and developed as a writer and social commentator. Machado developed, especially after 1880 (and what is usually considered the beginning of his "mature" period), a kind of anti-realistic, "new narrative," one that presents itself as self-referential fictional artifice...

This well-researched and theoretically informed book examines the nature and function of the main female characters in the nine novels of Machado de Assis. Earl Fitz argues that Machado had a particular interest in female characterization and that his fictional women became increasingly sophisticated and complex as he matured and developed as a writer and social commentator. Machado developed, especially after 1880 (and what is usually considered the beginning of his "mature" period), a kind of anti-realistic, "new narrative," one that presents itself as self-referential fictional artifice...