The Case for "Quincas Borba" as Confession

IN the assaying of critical works on Machado de Assis there are two facts that stand out rather sharply: (1) the autobiographical impulse is generally believed to be strong and consistent; and (2) most critical attention has been directed toward the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, probably the most significant and eventful decades in Brazilian history. This period embraces Machado's Mem6rias p6stumas de Brds Cubas, Quincas Borba, and Dom Casmurro. These novels are almost always referred to as a group, but there remains the strange fact that Quincas Borba has been but lightly examined, whether in comparison to the rest of the group or in its own right. Are Brds Cubas and Dom Casmurro of such extraordinary quality that Quincas Borba is eclipsed, or is the latter merely a run-ofthe-mill novel? Bettencourt's observations

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