'Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos': translation or text by Machado de Assis?

Abstract. This article shows that the first work published by Machado de Assis in book form, Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos (1861), is indeed a translation of the 1858 edition of Victor Henaux's essay De l'amour des femmes pour les sots, and neither an original text by Machado, nor an adaptation. The article firstly carries out a survey of the most important critics who have discussed the matter of authorship of Queda. Secondly, it makes a comparison between Machado's translation, as it was published both in A Marmota and in book form, and the original text by Victor Henaux. Finally, it proves that the changes made in the translation from the serial to the book were not mere typographic corrections; they demonstrate, in fact, an improvement in the literary quality of the Brazilian translation, through Machado's efforts to bring it closer to the French original.

Keywords. Machado de Assis; Victor Henaux; translation; authorship

Resumo. O presente artigo comprova que o primeiro trabalho publicado por Machado de Assis em forma de livro, Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos (1861), e de fato uma traducao da edicao de 1858 do ensaio de Victor Henaux De l'amour des femmes pour les sots. Nao se trata assim de texto original de Machado, muito menos de uma adaptacao. Em primeiro lugar, o artigo faz um levantamento dos estudos criticos mais importantes sobre a autoria de Queda. Em segundo, apresenta uma comparacao entre a traducao de Machado, como publicada em A Marmota e em livro, e o texto original de Victor Henaux. Terceiro, o artigo prova que as mudancas efetuadas no texto do jornal para o livro nao foram de natureza puramente tipografica. Elas atestam, na verdade, o aprimoramento da qualidade literaria da traducao brasileira, resultado do trabalho de Machado em aproximala ainda mais do original frances.

Palavras-Chave. Machado de Assis; Victor Henaux; traducao; autoria

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Among the many translations by Machado de Assis, the early satire Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos is one of the most controversial regarding authorship. Consisting of thirteen chapters, published in five consecutive instalments (19, 23, 26, 30 April and 3 May 1861) in the Rio de Janeiro biweekly magazine A Marmota, there was no indication that it was, in fact, a translation--nor indeed any indication of authorship. This was not at all an unusual occurrence in Brazilian periodicals, at least in the first half of the nineteenth century. According to Jussara Quadros, 'the original authors' names were often lost among a plethora of anonymous writers and pseudonyms'. (1) Works mentioned by Quadros, such as A historia da Donzela Theodora, A historia de Joao de Calais, Leocadia, ou a inocente vitima do crime and Confissao de marujo, included in Villeuneuve's and the Brothers Laemmert's collections of the end of the 1830s, did not conceal their origin. Quadros also mentions a short story by the German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann, Os assassinos misteriosos, ou a paixao dos diamantes (1839), published as if it were originally by Justiniano Jose da Rocha. Thus these early books were the products of an incipient Brazilian literature of plagiarisms, adaptations and unidentified translations. The case of Queda seems to testify that the practice of publishing translations and adaptations without indicating the original author and title is also to be found in the second half of the century. Nevertheless, in contrast to what happened to the two works cited above, when Paula Brito printed Queda as a book, in 1861, the front page did in fact indicate that it was a 'Traducao do Sr. Machado de Assis'. This statement, though, has often been contested.

The objectives of this article, then, are: firstly, to carry out a survey of the most important critics who have discussed the question of authorship of Queda; secondly, to make a comparison between Machado's translation, as it was published both in serial and book form, and the original text, in French, by Victor Henaux (and given that we have had access to two editions of De l'amour des femmes pour les sots, this article will define for the first time in literary scholarship the edition which Machado most likely used to produce his translation); and finally, to prove that the changes made in the text from the serial to the book were not mere typographic corrections, but in fact improved its literary quality, by bringing Machado's translation closer to the original.

The Question of Authorship--a Review of Opinions to Date

Existing scholarship rests on a contentious proposition: that Machado might be the author of Queda, even though, as stated above, he appears on the front page of the book as the translator of the satirical essay. In the key reference work Bibliografia de Machado de Assis, published in 1955, Galante de Sousa argues that Queda is an original text by Machado, basing himself on the opinions of Lucia Miguel Pereira and Afranio Peixoto:

Sobre ser obra original, e nao traducao, ja se pronunciaram D. Lucia Miguel Pereira (em Machado de Assis, 3a ed., 1946, pp. 97-101) e Afranio Peixoto (na nota explicativa que precede a transcricao da peca na Revista do Brasil, e na 'Nota preliminar' escrita para a edicao fac-similada de 1943).

Argumentam ambos, com muita justeza, no sentido da tese que defendem.

Realmente, a primeira publicacao desse trabalho, em A Marmota, nao traz indicacao do autor nem do tradutor. 'Parece (deduz A. Peixoto) que, saindo n'A Marmota, houve louvores e a edicao do libelo foi animada. Somente ai, repito, com a nota de "traducao do Snr. Machado de Assis". Ora, nao e habito literario --e Machado e Paula Brito eram ja profissionais da letra de forma--omitir o nome do autor e tornar patente o do tradutor. Traducao de que lingua?'

D. Lucia Miguel Pereira coteja as ideias desse opusculo com as de Desencantos [Machado's first play, published 1861], para concluir que nesta fantasia dramatica esta contida a teoria expendida naquela satira. (2)

However Jean-Michel Massa's research (1969) has suggested that Machado was not the author of Queda. In his thesis 'La jeunesse de Machado de Assis (1839-1870)', Massa tried to investigate why Queda was considered to be an original text by the young Machado:

Os criticos [Lucia Miguel Pereira e Luis Viana Filho] observaram que a peca [Desencantos] retomava um tema ja tratado nos treze capitulos de Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos, texto em prosa cujo titulo indica sem dissimulacao as classicas intencoes misoginas. Mas o raciocinio dos criticos sobre as duas obras foi falseado por um erro. Queda foi publicado em abril-maio de 1861, nas oficinas de Paula Brito. Na pagina de rosto le-se: 'pequena obrinha, traduzida pelo Sr. Machado de Assis'. Apesar da evidencia e num refinamento sutil, pretendeu-se ver na obra um trabalho original. Seria honroso para ele escrever, aos vinte anos, esta 'satira em prosa', mas, por nao acreditar em Machado de Assis, a critica embarafustou por um caminho sem saida. Queda e sem a menor duvida uma traducao, e Desencantos e uma adaptacao dramatica. A originalidade de Machado de Assis foi transpor a prosa satirica para a prosa cenica e, com alguns acrescimos, dela ter feito uma peca curta para o teatro. Retiramos a Machado de Assis a gloria de haver sido o autor de Queda. Em compensacao, rendamos-lhe justica num outro ponto. Desencantos nao foi representada, mas, no momento de sua publicacao, uma traducao, que descobrimos, era publicada no Courrier du Bresil [15 September 1861]. Desta forma, em 1861, Machado de Assis experimentou pela primeira vez a alegria de ver figurar seu nome em dois livros, como autor e como tradutor, e a alegria de ser traduzido em frances. (3)

In his complementary thesis 'Machado de Assis, traducteur', Massa states that he compared the translation to the fourth edition of De l'amour des femmes pour les sots, which he had found in the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris. However, he did not provide a thorough examination of both texts to support his argument. Furthermore, given that only his 'La jeunesse de Machado de Assis' has been translated and published in Portuguese so far, his key research has remained by and large unknown in Brazil. (4)

The result is that the controversy over the authorship of Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos still persists. The long established editions of Machado's works have contributed to this controversy. Nova Aguilar's Obra Completa places Queda in the third volume, in the 'Miscelanea' section, without any indication that it is a translation. Its editors justify the inclusion of Queda in the aforementioned section precisely because some of Machado's works cannot easily fit into the common 'current categories' of literary genres. (5) In the Brothers Jackson's edition, Queda had figured in the first volume of Cronicas since 1938. (6) In Garnier's edition of Machado's plays (Theatro, 1910), Queda is classified as a translation of a play rather than an essay, and is considered lost. (7)

As we can see, there is also misleading information about the literary genre to which Queda belongs. More recent listings of Machado's literary production make the same mistake of considering Queda a dramatic text by Machado, based most probably on Mario de Alencar's statement. Noteworthy here is the edition of Memorias postumas de Bras Cubas (1999), published by Autentica, in which Queda is listed under 'Teatro'. (8) The same classification can be seen in the publication of selected passages of Machado's works by Atica (2003). (9)

In the books O olhar judaico em Machado de Assis (1990), Machado de Assis, the Brazilian Pyrrhonian (1994), and Machado de Assis: memorias de um frasista (2002), Queda is still seen as an original text by Machado and the first book he published. (10) Furthermore, in O olhar judaico em Machado de Assis, the title of the translation is corrected to Queda que as mulheres tem pelos tolos (our emphasis). That is also the title that features in the first edition of the six-volume collection, A literatura no Brasil, directed by Afranio Coutinho (1955), in which Barreto Filho classified it as an adaptation. (11) In Machado's most recent biography (2005), Daniel Piza writes that Queda is 'provavelmente uma adaptacao da obra do autor frances Victor Henaux.' (12) Finally, Ana Luiza Andrade in Machado de Assis: cronicas de bond (2001), Djalma Cavalcante in Contos completos de Machado de Assis (2003), and Ubiratan Machado in Machado de Assis: roteiro da consagracao (2003) assert that Queda is a translation. (13)

Also in 2003, Decio Pignatari published a theatrical play on the romantic life of Machado de Assis and his wife Carolina, turning the Brazilian writer into an anti-hero, and dramatizing his imagined intimacy. References to Queda appear in two segments (1 and 8). In the first one, the reference to Queda is in a dialogue between Machado and Faustino Xavier de Novaes, who is Carolina's brother:

--Cuidado, Joaquim Maria... Ela nao desiste facilmente. Ainda mais quando se trata de poetas.

--Por que o plural?

--Carolina tem uma queda pelos tolos (ri). (14)

In the eighth segment, it seems that Pignatari leaves hints for the reader to suspect that Machado is in fact the author of Queda:

Passa o streaker Quintino Bocaiuva, mulato fardado, a anunciar, gaiato:

--Denunciado o autor do panfleto 'Queda que as mulheres tem pelos tolos': e o nosso Machado de Assis, que esta tramando a fundacao da Academia Brasileira de Letras, emula da francesa. Sera que a Academia tem uma queda por ele? (Pignatari, p. 35)

As shown so far, literary scholarship still differs on the authorship of Queda, although Massa had already suggested in his thesis that Machado was in fact only the translator.

Machado and Henaux--the Texts Compared

Known editions of Henaux's text

What has so far not been investigated (or at least documented) is how close Machado's translation is to Victor Henaux's text. According to Massa, the fourth edition (1859) of De l'amour des femmes pour les sots was at that moment 'la seule que nous connaissons du texte De l'amour' (Massa 1970, p. 21). At the British Library, however, we were able to find not only a copy of the same fourth edition of De l'amour but also a copy of a 'Nouvelle edition', published a year earlier, in 1858. Thanks to this new finding, we are now in a better position to compare the Brazilian and French texts, as well as to investigate from which of them Machado most probably produced his translation. They are:

--Henaux-1858: De l'amour des femmes pour les sots. Nouvelle edition, Liege: F. Renard, Editeur, Place St-Jaques, 49; Paris: Librairie Nouvelle; Leipzig: Ch. Gnuse, Libraire, 1858. Anonymous.

Epigraph on the front cover: 'Il est des naeuds secrets, il est des Sympathies ...' Corneille.

Printed by Typographie de J.-G. Carmanne, approximately 12.5 x 18.5 cm, 50 pp.

--Henaux-1859: De l'amour des femmes pour les sots. Quatrieme edition, Liege: F. Renard, Editeur; Paris: E. Dentu, Libraire, 1859. Anonymous.

Epigraph on the front cover: 'Il est des naeuds secrets, il est des sympathies...' Corneille

Printed by Typographie de J. Houtain, approximately 9 x 14.5 cm, 58 pp.

Henaux-1858 belongs to the British Library, London. The epigraph on the title page is the same as that on the book cover. It was taken from Corneille's tragedy Rodogune, act 1, scene 5:

   Il est des naeuds secrets, il est des sympathies
   dont par le doux rapport les ames assorties
   s'attachent l'une a l'autre et se laissent piquer
   par ces je ne sais quoi qu'on ne peut expliquer. (15)

The 'Avertissement' is signed by P. S, and on the back cover there is a list of books printed by Renard.

The copy of Henaux-1859 in the British Library is the same as the one found by Massa in the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris. The British Library copy was nevertheless bound in a single hardcover volume with two other works: How to choose a wife, de H. W. H. (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., Paternoster Row, 1854), 71 pp., and La verite sur les femmes, de J.-N. Bidaut (Paris: Chez Dentu Libraire, Galerie d'Orleans, Palais Royal, 1859), 34 pp. Henaux's satire comes third. On its title page, we find the same epigraph by Corneille, and the 'Preface' (not 'Avertissement', as in the 1858 edition) is signed by P. S.. On the back cover there is an advertisement: 'Chez le meme Editeur: Menus propos sur L'amour des femmes pour les sots. Un joli volume grand in-32'.

Unfortunately, to date we have not been able to find any other edition of Victor Henaux's satire. It is therefore difficult to pinpoint when it was first released and how many editions or reprints it had altogether. Henaux-1858 is either the second or the third edition, given that it was published before the 'Quatrieme edition', 1859.

In 1859 a certain Mathilde de Ellocnol-Villanja published a Reponse a l'auteur de De l'amour de femmes pour les sots, but neither there, nor in any general catalogues or universal bibliographies, could we find any reference to the year of publication of the first edition of De l'amour des femmes pour les sots. (16)

De l'amour de femmes pour les sots seems to have been the only literary work by Victor Henaux, a Belgian lawyer, who most probably practised in Liege, given that the other works under his name listed in the Catalogue General des Livres Imprimes de la Bibliotheque Nationale are related to that city: Petition adressee a la legislature par la chambre des avoues pres le tribunal civil de Liege. De la Recusation des magistrats pour cause de parente ou d'alliance avec les defenseurs des parties (Liege: N. Redoute, 1854), 14 pp.; and Ville de Liege. Commission de l'instruction publique. Rapport de M. l'echevin Henaux sur la proposition du college d'emettre un vaeu a la legislature en faveur de la reforme de la loi sur l'instruction primaire du 23 septembre 1842 (Liege: N. Redoute, 1861), 22 pp.

De l'amour de femmes pour les sots seems to have achieved some success, given that it had at least four editions, two being released only a year apart. Furthermore, as we have seen above, an entire book, the Reponse by Ellocnol-Villanja, had been written to refute its polemical ideas about women.

From Henaux-1858 to Henaux-1859, the arrangements in paragraphs change and some sentences are rewritten. In Henaux-1858, a bibliographic reference in the 'Avertissement', a footnote and some phrases in the later edition are missing.

Henaux and Machado--a direct comparison of the texts

As we shall demonstrate below by comparing some variants of Henaux-1858 and Henaux-1859, the closest edition to Machado's translation is Henaux-1858. We have adopted the following abbreviations for the two editions of Queda, and maintained the original orthography for the French and Portuguese:

--A: Queda que as mulheres teem para os tolos. A Marmota, Rio de Janeiro, nos. 1257 to 1261, of 19, 23, 26, 30 April and 3 May 1861.

Biweekly magazine, usually published on Tuesdays and Fridays. 6 pages.

Approximately 22 x 30 cm. (Massa 1971, p. 95)

--B: Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos. Traduccao do Snr. Machado de Assis, Rio de Janeiro: Typografia de F. de Paula Brito, 1861.

Approximately 10.4 x 15.4 cm, 45 pp.

We have selected three points of comparison:

1. The arrangement of paragraphs in Queda, although not totally identical, is closer to Henaux-1858. In both Henaux-1858 and Queda they are longer than in Henaux-1859. Compare, for example, the first paragraph of Chapter III:

Henaux-1858:

En cette matiere, l'homme d'esprit se laisse aller a d'etranges illusions. Il voit dans les femmes des etres d'une nature plus relevee que la sienne, ou, tout au moins, il leur prete ses idees, il leur suppose son caeur, il se les represente capables, comme lui, de generosite, de noblesse et de grandeur. Il s'imagine qu'il faut pour leur plaire des qualites au-dessus du vulgaire. Naturellement timide, il s'exagere encore, aupres d'elles, son insuffisance; le sentiment de ce qui lui manque le rend defiant, indecis, tourmente. Respectueux jusqu'a en etre craintif, il n'ose exprimer son amour en paroles: il l'exhale par une suite non interrompue de douces prevenances, de tendres egards, d'attentions delicates.

Henaux-1859:

En cette matiere, l'homme d'esprit se laisse aller a d'etranges illusions.

Il voit dans les femmes des etres d'une nature plus relevee que la sienne, ou, tout au moins, il leur prete ses idees, il leur suppose son caeur, il se les represente capables, comme lui, de generosite, de noblesse et de grandeur. Il s'imagine qu'il faut pour leur plaire des qualites au-dessus du vulgaire.

Naturellement timide, il s'exagere encore, aupres d'elles, son insuffisance; le sentiment de ce qui lui manque le rend defiant, indecis, tourmente.

Respectueux jusqu'a en etre craintif, il n'ose exprimer son amour en paroles: il l'exhale par une suite non interrompue de douces prevenances, de tendres egards, d'attentions delicates.

B:

Em materia de amor, deixa-se o homem de espirito embalar por extranhas illusoes. As mulheres sao para elle entes de mais elevada natureza que a sua, ou pelo menos (17) elle empresta-lhes as proprias ideas, suppoe-lhes um coracao como o seu, (18) imagina-as capazes, como elle, de generosidade, nobreza e grandeza. Imagina que para agradar-lhes e preciso ter qualidades acima do vulgar. Naturalmente timido, exaggera mais ao pe dellas a sua insufficiencia; o sentimento de que lhe falta muito, o torna desconfiado, indeciso, atormentado. Respeitoso ate a timidez, nao ousa exprimir o seu amor em palavras; exhala-o por meio de uma nao interrompida serie de meigos cuidados, ternos respeitos e attencoes delicadas.

2. In Henaux-1858, chapter V, we find: 'Il oublie les louanges, qui le touchent faiblement, pour ne se souvenir que d'une seule remarque faite sur le plus leger de ses defauts, et qui le dechire'.

The Henaux-1859 variant is: 'Il oublie les louanges, qui ne le touchent que faiblement, pour se souvenir d'une seule remarque faite sur le plus leger de ses defauts, et qui le dechire'.

The syntax in Machado's translation is closer to Henaux-1858: 'Esquece os encomios que levemente o tocam, para lembrar-se somente de uma observacao feita ao menor dos seus defeitos e que bastante o tortura.'

3. In neither Henaux-1858 nor in Queda do we find any of the sentences from Henaux-1859, underlined below:

a. Henaux-1858, Chapter V: 'Le sot, lui, est un amant toujours content et tranquille. Il a une si roubuste confiance dans les agrements qu'il etale, qu'il a la certitude d'etre aime avant meme d'en avoir la preuve'.

Henaux-1859, Chapter V: 'Le sot, lui, est un amant toujours content et tranquille. Rien ne l'inquiete ni ne l'agite. Il a une si roubuste confiance dans les agrements qu'il etale, qu'il a la certitude d'etre aime avant meme d'en avoir la preuve'.

A and B, Chapter V: 'O tolo e um amante sempre contente e tranquillo. Tem tao robusta confianca nos seus predicados, que antes de ter provas, ja mostra a certeza de ser amado'.

b. Henaux-1858, Chapter X: 'Elles peuvent, devant lui, aborder tous les sujets et causer de toutes choses, innocemment, sans consequence. Dans la persuasion qu'il ne pense ni mieux ni autrement qu'elles, elles viennent a son secours quand une idee lui manque: elles suppleent a sa disette'.

Henaux-1859, Chapter X: 'Elles peuvent, devant lui, aborder tous les sujets et causer de toutes choses, innocemment, sans consequence. Elles lui confient de petits secrets, elles le chargent de petits details, elles le consultent sur de petits riens. Dans la persuasion qu'il ne pense ni mieux ni autrement qu'elles, elles viennent a son secours quand une idee lui manque: elles suppleent a sa disette'.

A and B, Chapter X: 'Podem diante delle absorver todos os assumptos e conversar sobre tudo, innocentemente, sem consequencia. Na persuasao de que elle nao pensa melhor, nem contrario a ellas, auxiliam o triste, quando a idea lhe falta, suprem-lhe a indigencia'.

The Variants in Machado's Texts Compared to Henaux-1858

We can now proceed to the third and final objective of this article: the comparison between the two existing editions of Queda, to investigate if the variants in B bring substantial changes to the text or if they are mere typographic corrections. As already stated, Machado's translation was originally published in A Marmota. The composition is good overall, presenting few typographic errors, and for the composition of the book Paula Brito used the same typographic arrangement. As Galante de Sousa writes, the two editions maintain 'a mesma disposicao e particao de palavras, exceto naturalmente quando o texto foi alterado'. (18) In Ideias e livros Sousa comes to the conclusion that the corrections were made by Machado and not by the typographer, because they change the meaning of the text. (19) For the book, Machado translated the 'Avertissement', which was not published in A Marmota. The list of works and authors that had inspired Henaux's was nevertheless left out. Machado also substituted words and restructured some sentences.

Comparing Henaux-1858 to A and B, we have been able to conclude that from one edition to the other, not only were typographic mistakes corrected, but also changes were made, most probably by Machado himself, to bring the translation even closer to the original. The literary improvement in the text could not be recognized, therefore, if we did not have the original for reference. Here are some examples. Machado substitutes:

1. 'imposta' by 'innacta':

--A, Chapter II: 'Este concurso da toleima imposta e da toleima adquirida'.

--B, Chapter II: 'Este concurso da toleima innacta e da toleima adquirida'.

--Henaux-1858, Chapter II: 'C'est ce concours de la sottise innee et de la sottise acquise'.

2. 'retrata' by 'extrahe' and 'rompimento' by 'essencia':

--A, Chapter V: 'Como estuda, como retrata, como saborea as volupias mais fugitivas ate ao ultimo rompimento!'

--B, Chapter V: 'Como estuda, como extrahe, como saborea as volupias mais fugitivas ate a ultima essencia!'

--Henaux-1858, Chapter V: 'Comme il en etudie, comme il en extrait, comme il en savoure les voluptes les plus fugitives jusque dans leurs derniers raffinements!'

3. 'Sempre enrolado em uma bondade de inconstancia' by 'Sempre acobertado pela bandeira de inconstancia':

--A, Chapter VII: 'Sempre enrolado em uma bondade de inconstancia, desfazse de uma amante sem luta, nem remorso; utilisa uma traicao para voar a novas aventuras'.

--B, Chapter VII: 'Sempre acobertado pela bandeira de inconstancia, desfaz-se de uma amante sem luta, nem remorso; utilisa uma traicao para voar a novas aventuras'.

--Henaux-1858, Chapter VII: 'Toujours enrole sous la banniere de l'inconstance, il se defait d'une maitresse sans combats ni remords; il utilise une trahison pour courir apres des aventures nouvelles'.

4. 'entendido' by 'estudado':

--A, Chapter VIII: 'Tendo visto e entendido um pouco a mulher, adquire-se uma certa dureza'.

--B, Chapter VIII: 'Tendo visto e estudado um pouco a mulher, adquire-se uma certa dureza'.

--Henaux-1858, Chapter VIII: 'Quand on a un peu vu et etudie les femmes, on acquiert une certaine durete'.

5. 'bondades' by 'bordados':

--A, Chapter VIII: 'de se extasiar diante de suas bondades'.

--B, Chapter VIII: 'de se extasiar diante de seus bordados'.

--Henaux-1858, Chapter VIII: 'de s'extasier devant sa broderie'.

6. 'merecer' by 'escrever':

--A, Chapter IX: 'O homem de espirito e o menos habil para merecer a uma mulher'.

--B, Chapter IX: 'O homem de espirito e o menos habil para escrever a uma mulher'.

--Henaux-1858, Chapter IX: 'L'homme d'esprit est le plus maladroit des hommes pour ecrire a une femme'.

Conclusion: The Translation and the Myth

The insistence on the story of this translation is due to the fact that it is seen as one of the underpinnings of the literary foundation of Machado's works, as Massa and Maia Neto have argued. Some critics think that it had such an influence on the author's later fiction that it could not have been written other than by the young Machado himself. Maia Neto, for example, sees the essay as the starting point in the construction of the author's scepticism throughout his fiction, which evolves from the first to the second phase. His hypothesis is that Machado develops the sceptical life-view as a theoretical and practical alternative available to the homem de espirito when outward life becomes hegemonic, that is, when the alternative of truth and morality in the domestic peace of marriage is no longer available (Maia Neto, 1994, p. 9).

In Queda, for the first time the supposed author characterized woman and the life-views of the homem de espirito, and the tolo. He also described explicitly, in Maia Neto's words, the relationships that obtain among them, asserting, as the title suggests, that the essence of these relationships lies in women's preference for tolos over homens de espirito. 'A conclusao final', concludes a resigned author, is that 'os tolos triunfam, e os homens de espirito falham [nos seus proprios projetos afetivos]' (Maia Neto, 1994, p. 21).

Maia Neto argues that the ideas presented in Queda accompanied Machado's artistic creation from the publication of his first play Desencantos (1861) until his last novel Memorial de Aires (1908). Machado's main sceptical characters are the fictional authors of the second-phase novels Memorias postumas de Bras Cubas, Dom Casmurro and Memorial de Aires, and the narrator, for example, of the short story 'O imortal' (1882). The translation of Queda, in a chain, engendered therefore the writing of the novel Ressurreicao (1872), as a narrative version of the dramatic fantasy Desencantos. And given that, according to Helen Caldwell, Ressurreicao 'seems to contain the germ of Dom Casmurro', we can deduce that Machado's most controversial novel was outlined according to the theory of male and female types that he had translated in 1861. (20)

Nevertheless, as we have proven above, and as Massa had already suggested, Queda is not an original text by Machado. It is, in fact, not the only text that was attributed to Machado which he did not write. (21) As we approach the centenary of Machado's death (1908), we hope that the controversy over the authorship of Queda has finally been resolved and that this article will encourage a renewed interest in the bibliographical study of Machado's works and of his activity as a translator. (22)

Parts of this article were translated by Dr Marie-Anne Kremer, who is a translator with UFMG publishing house.

University of Oxford

Fapemig (Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais) and Unimontes (Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros), Minas Gerais, Brazil

(1) 'The Book and the Format of the Novel', in Literary Cultures of Latin America: A Comparative History, ed. by Djelal Kandir and Mario Valdes, 3 vols (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), ii, 147-55 (p. 151).

(2) Bibliografia de Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: INL, 1955), pp. 340-42. Sousa quotes Pereira from the third edition of her Machado de Assis (Rio de Janeiro: Jose Olympio, 1946), and Peixoto from 'Nota preliminar', in Machado de Assis, Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos (Rio de Janeiro: Academia Brasileira de Letras, 1943), pp. v-xii (p. vi). In an short article published in 1979, Galante de Sousa acknowledges that Queda is not an original text by Machado de Assis, based on Massa's research. See Galante de Sousa, 'O primeiro livro de Machado de Assis', in Machado de Assis e outros estudos (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Editora Catedra, 1979), pp. 21-24 (p. 24).

(3)'La jeunesse de Machado de Assis (1839-1870): essai de bibliographie intellectuelle' (unpublished doctoral thesis, Universite de Poitiers, 1969). We quote from the Portuguese translation: A juventude de Machado de Assis (1839-1870): ensaio de biografia intelectual, trans. by Marco Aurelio de Moura Matos (Rio de Janeiro: Civilizacao Brasileira, 1971), pp. 319-20. In 'Machado de Assis, traducteur' (unpublished doctoral thesis, 2 vols, Universite de Poitiers, 1970), Massa presents the elements that allow him to affirm that Queda is a translation (vol. 1, p. 21). The book by Pereira is Machado de Assis, 5th edn (Rio de Janeiro: Jose Olympio,1955), and that by Vianna Filho is A vida de Machado de Assis (Sao Paulo: Martins, 1965).

(4) A translation of 'Machado de Assis, traducteur' will soon be published by Editora Crisalida, Belo Horizonte.

(5) 'Abrange esta secao ['Miscelanea'] alguns trabalhos importantes de Machado de Assis, os quais nao sao facilmente classificaveis nas categorias correntes. Por esse ou aquele aspecto, ora misturando qualidades de varios generos, ora diferenciando-se das caracteristicas tradicionalmente atribuidas a outros, esses trabalhos nao se ajustam as definicoes comuns dos generos literarios: artigos, ou cronicas-artigos, narrativas em versos, cartas-abertas, etc.' Obra Completa 10th edn, 3 vols (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguilar, 1992), iii, 941. The first edition of Machado's works by Aguilar was published in 1959, and there have been ten reprints to date.

(6) Cronicas (Rio de Janeiro: W. M Jackson, 1953), xxii, 163-81.

(7) On this subject see Sousa 1955, pp. 341-42: 'Mario de Alencar, na 'Advertencia' ao volume Teatro (H. Garnier, 1910), por ele coligido, inclui essa [Queda...], entre as traducoes de teatro perdidas, baseado, como ele proprio declara, em Sacramento Blake. A questao da autoria foi objeto de uma comunicacao de Amadeu Amaral a Otavio Tarquinio de Sousa, por ocasiao da transcricao na Revista do Brasil [...], alegando o primeiro que nao se tratava de inedito, nem era de Machado de Assis, mas traducao. Como Otavio Tarquinio, diretor da revista, nao levasse em consideracao a advertencia, fez Amadeu Amaral a mesma comunicacao a Bricio de Abreu, que, em tom repreensivo publicou no Dom Casmurro (Rio, 19-11-1938) uma nota intitulada: 'Um inedito de Machado de Assis que nao e inedito e nao e de Machado de Assis', censurando a publicacao da Revista do Brasil.'

(8) Memorias postumas de Bras Cubas, ed. by Leticia Malard (Belo Horizonte: Autentica, 1999), p. 15.

(9) Machado de Assis para principiantes, ed. by Marcos Bagno (Sao Paulo: Atica, 2003), p. 181.

(10) Anita Novinsky, O olhar judaico em Machado de Assis, pref. by Arnaldo Niskier (Rio de Janeiro: Expressao e Cultura, 1990), p. 7; Jose Raimundo Maia Neto, The Brazilian Pyrrhonian (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1994), p. 21; Angela Canuto, Machado de Assis: memorias de um frasista (Sao Paulo: Lemos Editorial, 2002), p. 192.

(11) A literatura no Brasil 6th (revised) edn, 6 vols (Sao Paulo: Editora Global, 2003), iv, 151.

(12) Daniel Pizza, Machado de Assis: um genio brasileiro (Sao Paulo: Imprensa Oficial do Estado de Sao Paulo, 2005), p. 92.

(13) Machado de Assis: cronicas de bond, ed. by Ana Luiza de Andrade (Chapeco: Argos, 2001), pp. 117-18: '1861--[...]. Publica a traducao "Queda que as Mulheres Tem Para os Tolos", primeiro na Marmota (abril-maio), mais tarde em volume, impresso tambem na oficina de Paula Brito'. Contos completos de Machado de Assis, ed. by Djalma Cavalcante (Juiz de Fora: Ed. da UFJF, 2003), p. xxxii: '1861--Publicacao de Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos, traducao de texto teatral'. Machado de Assis: roteiro da consagracao, ed. by Ubiratan Machado (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. da UERJ, 2003), p. 35: 'Desencantos--Fantasia dramatica em um ato, editada por Paula Brito em 1861, foi o primeiro original de Machado publicado em livro, ja que a Queda que as mulheres tem para os tolos, editada no mesmo ano, e traducao'.

(14) Decio Pignatari, Ceu de lona (Curitiba: Travessa dos Editores, 2003), p. 13.

(15) Pierre Corneille, Rodogune, princesse des Parthes: tragedie, ed. by Ch. Marty-Laveaux, <http://www.dur.ac.uk/r.g.maber/corneille.htm>.

(16) Mathilde de Ellocnol-Villanja, Reponse a l'auter de De l'amour de femmes pour les sots (Liege: J. Ledoux, Editeur, 1859); Catalogue General des Livres Imprimes de la Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1919), tomo LXX.

(17) A: menos empresta-lhes

(18) A: seu, imagina-os capazes

(18) Quoted by Sousa 1955, p. 341.

(19) Galante de Sousa, Ideias e livros (Rio de Janeiro), March and April 1951. Quoted by Sousa 1955, p. 341.

(20) Helen Caldwell, The Brazilian Othello of Machado de Assis: A Study of 'Dom Casmurro' (Berkeley/ Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1960), p. 19.

(21) On this subject see Massa, 1971, pp. 535-41.

(22) It was not the objective of this article to analyse Machado's knowledge of French, on the basis of the mistakes he made and then corrected. A bilingual edition of Queda and De l'amour des femmes pour les sots, to be published by Editora da UNICAMP, is forthcoming. This bilingual edition will provide valuable material for the study of Machado's command of French at the very beginning of his career.