A target of numerous criticisms being some, in fact, envious attacks, Machado de Assis, in all his life, silenced himself about it. Did they deserve an answer? or rather: is it up to the artist to answer the criticisms that are directed at him? Without saying a single word, Machado taught us how the great artist should behave. Attacked, the master kept his independence, continued working. And if the criticisms exposed any aesthetic or expressive problem worthy of note, then the answer is very clear in his literature. And the great mass of comments, well, they received what was theirs: contempt.
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