"COXA DE NASCENÇA": MISCONCEPTIONS, NORMALCY AND THE AESTHETICS OF DIFFERENCE IN MEMÓRIAS PÓSTUMAS DE BRÁS CUBAS BY MACHADO DE ASSIS

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes a short yet significant episode in Machado de Assis's novel Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas in which the main protagonist-narrator describes the recollections of an amorous encounter with a young girl, Eugênia, who had the misfortune of being born lame. Theoretically informed by the work of Lennard Davis, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Mark Osteen, among others, in the field of Disability Studies, this study engages with prior readings of Memórias Póstumas to discuss the embodied experience of disability at the intersection of the aesthetics of beauty and social acceptance within the context of the Brazilian nineteenth century.