Machado de Assis, guarda-livros?

Abstract

This is an inquiry into Machado de Assis háving worked as a bookkeeper, which, incidentally, is a point of contention among his biographers. This study presents a retrospective of his career as a civil servant, and discusses primarily his relationship with the field of accounting. It makes use of documentary resources and a brief analysis of Assis's short stories (based on the idea that the work can explain the man behind the author - Theory of the novel). Newspapers clippings and official documents illustrate this paper, which also includes a copy of a document obtained from the Archives of the Ministry of Transport, in Brasilia. In addition, the study analyzes Assis' profile vis-à-vis the requirements to work in accounting. The research findings allow us to infer that Assis indeed worked as a bookkeeper.