Quincas Borba, Humanitas, and Don Quijote's Madness

This article brings together the works of Machado de Assis and Cervantes through a (re) reading of Madness as a topic recurrently present in their works. The main goal is to demonstrate how Machado came up with his version of quixotic madness embodied in the (alleged) philosophy of Quincas Borba: Humanitas. In order to achieve such an objective I propose a close reading of both Humanitas and Borba in comparison with the episode of the argument over the nature of the Mambrino's Helmet in Don Quijote. The abstract nature of Madness presented by both authors will serve as a counterpoint during the path.