“O cônego ou metafísica do estilo” by Machado de Assis in Italian: a translation with commentary in three tempos

Abstract

First published in Gazeta de Notícias on November 22, 1885 and then included among the sixteen stories that make up the volume Várias Histórias eleven years later, “O cônego ou metafísica do estilo”  is certainly not one of the better known stories (and perhaps not even among the best ones) by Machado de Assis. It surely is not one of the most known in Italy, and this case of the canon and his tormented creative process had not found a translator, so far.