Two Marranos and a Warlock: Antônio José and Baruch Spinoza in the Poetry of Machado de Assis

Abstract

Machado de Assis’ poetry remains little studied and comprehended in academic researches. Among the sets of ten poems which pay homage to important canonical writers, in the book Ocidentais, there are two which interest us more especially to our remarks: “Antônio José” and “Espinosa”. Machado de Assis dialogue with the works by these two writers, also marking that both Antônio José and Espinosa belonged to New Christian families and were persecuted by religious intolerance.