Machado de Assis and I Cantanti d'Opera Italiani: Cultural Transfers

Abstract

By reading the chronicles of Machado de Assis, we come into contact with many cultures and literatures, among them the Italian one. The curious thing is that the writer never left Brazil, so his knowledge of Italy was acquired from afar, from Rio de Janeiro, which he will never abandon, by reading magazines, books, newspapers, correspondence, and by the coming of Italians to the city of Rio. In this way, Machado's Italy would not only be the fruit of personal choices, but also the fruit of direct contact with certain mediators, who, according to the concept of cultural transferences, can be either a book, a newspaper or a traveler, a writer. The Italian opera singers are part of this cultural mediation, since they transport fragments of Italy to Machado de Assis. This article intends to discuss the contribution of the Italian opera singers in the chronicler's imaginary construction of Italy based on the concepts of cultural transference, taking into account that the whole process of displacement generates a change, an adaptation.