Thorny theme… But there is nothing to be afraid of. I have been seeking the answer for years: why can an Englishman dispense Machado, but a Brazilian cannot dispense Shakespeare? I am saying about one of my masters, one of the authors who I have the most affection… And, reflecting, I essay the following answer: the greatness of an author can be synthesized, ultimately, in the sum between style and theme of the work. Machado is a top score in style, leaving us the theme. Does the theme of Machado’s work fall short? I do not think so… even when comparing with the greatest: there is amplitude in Machado, there is conflict in Machado. Then I realize something is missing from my proposition. What would Tolstoy have that has no Machado? What would Dostoevsky or Shakespeare have? Style, again, could not be: Machado is master in the highest degree. But fatally our artist does not share the hall of the greatest authors of all time worldwide. Why? I risk another option that seems reasonable to me: lack of vigor, lack of action in Machado’s characters. But is that a demerit? Does great literature require an active character or a great author? I am still unresponsive. Another proposition comes to me: if the translations, whether or not admitted, scratch the style of the work, what is left of it? The arc of action. But why, exactly, should the great work have a well-defined arc of action? Here, I feel that we have advanced… The works of Tolstoy, Shakespeare or Dostoevsky can be summarized in a diagram, simplified as in acts of a play; already in Machado, not all are so… But I ask: Is this a qualitative criterion? What does a well-defined arc of action provide? To a good understanding of the reader. And do the artistic work must to do that service? I do not know, I do now know… I thought here to conclude that the text should purify the reader, that the work should fascinate him, that the stories should instruct him, that the themes should be comprehensive and that the characters should mark. But all this I find in Machado and I say more: well I would spend my days in exclusive contact with his work. So I see it: I am unable to consider him at a lower level. To me, may the problem be in readers, in critics, in translators… but from my mouth will not come out that Machado is below anyone!
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