Creation of space in the short stories 'The Mirror' by Machado de Assis and João Guimarães Rosa

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing and comparing the construction of the space in the short stories O Espelho by the Brazilian writers Machado de Assis and João Guimarães Rosa. Machado de Assis’ short story is structured in two spaces: a house, where the gentlemen discussed very important issues and a farm, where Jacobina, one of the gentlemen, is alone and needs to wear his military dress in order to see himself in a mirror. Guimarães Rosa’s short story is structured in the space of a public building’s bathroom, where the character seeks his purest appearance, which reveals his essence. We will study how these spaces confirm the characters’ actions and the thematic that permeates the short stories. The setting of these short stories will be discussed according to Iuri Lotman, Gaston Bachelard and Raúl Castagnino’s theories.