Iconic relation between the character and his discourse in Quincas Borba

Abstract

The article analyses the iconic feature that is established between the character, Rubião, from Quincas Borba, and his discourse, based on the presupposition that this procedure exposes Machado de Assis’ critical-reflective process. The selection of a writing style as a handcrafted practice is expressed in the “Advertência”, that opens Ressurreição, and it becomes evident when the two versions of Quincas Borba are confronted to each other, leading the treatment disposed in the protagonist’s discourse of the narrative to gain a surplus of expression. By exploring the possibilities of language, Machado gives the verbal signs the quality of natural gestures, and on them imprints the power to reproduce iconically the trajectory of Rubião. The character goes from a dispersive state, manifested by a bivocal discourse, to madness’ integrity, when he takes over a discursive unicity. By making meaning evident, the discursive procedures impel the reader to look for the intentionality of the text, and through it, the reader may migrate to the social context where the denunciation of the author lays.