SOURCE: Severino, Alexandrino E. “Major Trends in the Development of the Brazilian Short Story.” Studies in Short Fiction 8, no. 1 (winter 1971): 199-208.

In the following excerpt, Severino considers the short fictional writings of Machado de Assis and Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco, highlighting developments in the Brazilian short story from the late nineteenth century to the early Modernist period.

In spite of story telling's being so much a part of Brazilian culture, the short story, as an art form, was slow to develop as an acceptable literary mode of expression. The Brazilian writer, until recently, regarded the short story as being more apt for children's ears than for the serious pursuit of imaginative literature. Machado de Assis (1839-1908), Brazil's first important short story writer—to some the best the country has ever known—commented in 1873 on the short story writer and the public's attitude toward the genre: “It's a...