Machado de Assis's own writings about his epilepsy: a brief clinical note

Abstract

-Machado de Assis's own writings about his epilepsy are here given. They come from his correspondence with his friend Mario de Alencar during the last 8 months of Machado de Assis's life. These are the only places where Machado de Assis dealt clearly with his epilepsy during his entire life.KEY WORDS: epilepsy, Machado de Assis. Os escritos de Machado de Assis sobre a sua epilepsia: breve nota clínicaRESUMO -Os escritos de Machado de Assis sobre a sua epilepsia são analisados aqui. Eles provêm da sua correspondência com seu amigo Mario de Alencar, durante os últimos 8 meses da vida de Machado de Assis. Este é o único lugar em que Machado de Assis tratou claramente da sua epilepsia durante toda a sua vida.

What do Flaubert, Dostoevsky and Machado de Assis have in common with neurology?

“…Machado did not even share his neurological problem with his wife Carolina, who only discovered it when she witnessed a seizure a few months after the wedding 7,9 . As in Flaubert's and Dostoevsky's cases, treatment was not able to control Machado's epilepsy so that, even though he consulted Dr. Miguel Couto, the most distinguished Brazilian physician at that time, he described himself as "a sick man without a doctor" 8,9 . When Machado discovered that his contemporary, Flaubert, also suffered from epilepsy, he wrote: "I found the same solitude and sadness, and even the same evil, as you know, the other" 9 .…”

“…Like Flaubert, Machado de Assis never felt comfortable with his epilepsy and always tried to hide it. The word "epilepsy" or its derivatives only appeared in his literary texts in the first edition of The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, after which the word was deleted in all the other editions 8 . Similarly, in 1872, Machado translated a booklet, by a French doctor, Hygiene for Schools and, curiously, he did not save the word "epilepsy" here either.…”

“…At that time, the ideas of the Italian neuropsychiatrist Cesare Lombroso were on the rise and epilepsy was associated with moral degeneration, insanity and even a propensity for crime 9 . Machado' s epilepsy is only discussed in his correspondence with his friend Mario de Alencar and even then, the author of Dom Casmurro often used the euphemism "original sin" to refer to his neurological condition: "I am getting along well, except for the usual difficulties of old age, and experiencing, without any change, the original sin" 8,9 . Machado did not even share his neurological problem with his wife Carolina, who only discovered it when she witnessed a seizure a few months after the wedding 7,9 .…”

“…When Machado discovered that his contemporary, Flaubert, also suffered from epilepsy, he wrote: "I found the same solitude and sadness, and even the same evil, as you know, the other" 9 . In fact, epilepsy put Machado de Assis into a deep state of melancholy and solitude that some critics claim contributed to his artistic production 7,8,9 . Epilepsy had a deep impact on the life of Flaubert, Dostoevsky and Machado de Assis.…”

Memórias póstumas da loucura mulata: as apropriações de Machado de Assis sob o corte patológico

“…Esse argumento, contudo, independentemente da pessoa a quem a doença é atribuída, ainda permanece suscetível às críticas bakhtinianas(Castro, Portugal, Jacó-Vilela, 2011). 14 Há estudos que apontam, por conta da epilepsia, que o próprio Machado se comparou a Flaubert(Chapman, Chapman-Santana, 2000) e os que, na esteira da comemoração dos cem anos de sua morte, reificaram seu estatuto de mulato e epiléptico para enfatizar que ele escreveu sobre "una franja muy notoria de orates e locos"(Cobo Borda, 2008, p.40). Com base na documentação de epilepsia em textos e cartas de Machado de Assis, e da sua condição de mulato, Yacubian e Caboclo (2011) afirmaram que Machado oferece um enigma insolúvel para psicólogos e ensaístas por causa da luta contra a mácula da epilepsia.15 Mesmo estudos focados estritamente na análise etiológica e neuropsiquiátrica de sua epilepsia a partir do registro de pessoas que testemunharam suas crises dão ênfase a seu estereótipo de "mulato"(Guerreiro, 1992).…”