The Alienist and Other Stories of Nineteenth-Century Brazil Read Online Free PDF Page B

and political “theater” that were routinely practiced but seldom talked about so frankly. The father’s praise of empty-headed “posing” is Machado’s humorous way of making a serious point. He believed that his elite readership was superficial, thoughtless, and far too absorbed in self-aggrandizing social games. Here he tells them so—speaking about the men, at least—in laughably clear terms. If the readers of Gazeta de Notícias recognized something true about themselves in “ Teoria do medalhão ” when it first appeared in 1881, then Machado had made his point, as usual, with ironic good humor.

     
    “A re you sleepy?”
    “No, sir.”
    “Neither am I, so let’s talk a bit. Open the window. What time is it?”
    “Eleven o’clock.”
    “Our modest dinner this evening went well, no? And so, young man, you’re finally twenty-one years old! Twenty-one years ago today, on the fifth of August, 1854, you first blinked at the light of day, a tiny infant, and now look at you. A man, with quite a mustache! And some experience in love, too—”
    “Papa!”
    “Relax. Let’s talk man to man. I have some important things to tell you. Close the door and sit down and let’s talk. So … twenty-one years old, a degree, a few financial assets. At this point, you could write for a newspaper, seek a judgeship, run for office. Agriculture, industry, trade—you have an infinity of options. Twenty-one years, my boy, are just the beginning. Napoleon and Pitt were precocious, but even they had just begun at the age of twenty-one. But whatever your choice of profession, I want you to be great and illustrious. Notable at the very least. I want to see you rise above obscurity and distinguish yourself from the common throng. Life is an enormous lottery, Janjão. There are a few winners and many losers, and the money of the losers builds the jackpot for the winners. That’s life. We can’t whine or protest the way things are, only accept it, the bad with the good, the burdens with the benefits, and move ahead.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And just as it’s always a good idea to put away something for one’s old age, it’s good to have a fall-back career. One never knows. The first career may fail, provide inadequate compensation, or not fully satisfy one’s ambitions. Such is my advice to you, at any rate, on this great day when you are coming of age.”
    “Thank you. But what fallback career do you have in mind?”
    “No second career is more advantageous, in my opinion, than to be a pure poser. There you have it!”
    “A what ?”
    “A poser. To live purely by posing was the dream of my youth. But lacking my own father’s guidance in the matter, I’ve ended up as you see me today … and without a fallback career, I’ve pinned all my hopes on you. So listen, my son. Listen and learn:
    “You’re young and have the impulsiveness and exuberance of youth. Don’t fight those qualities, but do moderate them gradually, so that, by forty-five years of age, you can put them aside and adopt an unfailingly steady and upright decorum. The sage who said that ‘gravitas resides in the way you carry yourself’ defined the poser’s art. Be careful, however. Don’t confuse this sort of gravitas with the other sort, which, while expressed in one’s appearance, actually emanates from the spirit. Don’t think deep thoughts. Physical gravitas, strictly physical, is all you seek. As for the age of forty-five—”
    “Right, why forty-five?”
    “It’s no arbitrary limit, nothing I’ve simply dreamed up, but, rather, the normal timing of the phenomenon. The true poser generally emerges at between forty-five and fifty years of age. Some emerge between fifty-five and sixty, and there are a few precocious cases, who reveal themselves at the age of forty, thirty-five, even thirty years old. Posing is thus generally a gift of age. To pose successfully at twenty-five is the privilege of genius.”
    “I understand.”
    “Let’s