THE EXHIBITION MACHADO DE ASSIS

Abstract In August 1939, Mário de Andrade wrote an article for O Estado de S. Paulo about the exhibition in celebration of the centennial of Machado de Assis's birth organized by the National Book Institute and held at the National Library. In the article, Andrade describes the exhibition, comments on the privileged place of Machado de Assis in Brazilian literature, discusses the role of the intellectual, the importance of literary life, the function of cultural institutions and the path for forming and consecrating the figure of the writer.