چکیده (انگلیسی):

This article’s aim is to analyze the quest for national identity in the works of Edgar Allan Poe and the
Brazilian writer Machado de Assis, in a comparativeperspective that brings us the possibility of perceiving
the ways in which both authors reflected upon the constitution of national identity. Firstly, I will analyze the
contexts where the authors produced their works, inorder to understand how and why they expressed their
concerns regarding nationalism and imitation of literary models. Secondly, I intend to discuss their
importance as writers in Brazil and in the United States, considering that both Poe and Machado were very
important for the constitution of Brazilian and American literature. Finally, my intention is to analyze some
essays produced by the authors, such as ‘Ideas about the theater’, ‘The ideal of the critic’ and ‘Instinct of
nationality’, by Machado de Assis. In relation to Poe, I will briefly discuss ‘Exordium to critical notices’, a
letter written by the author to his editors and also one of the articles that composed the famous series
entitled ‘Little Longfellow War’, in order to demonstrate Poe’s tendency to refuse an idealized perception of
nationalism, as well as the ways in which he conducts his literary quest for national identity.