Dom Casmurro 2.13 · 2.13

'Constructor e pintor entenderam bem as indicações que lhes fiz' — builder and painter understood well the directions I gave them. The reproduction was competently, faithfully done; the tradesmen followed his exact specifications. What follows is an inventory of that success — window by window, room by room, the vanished house risen again at Engenho Novo. But hold the emphasis on 'as indicações que lhes fiz', the directions I gave them. This is Bento directing the recreation of his own past, dictating precisely how the memory shall look. It is a small, literal instance of what he does everywhere in the book: he issues the specifications for how his history is to be reconstructed, and the reconstruction obediently takes the shape he prescribes. The workmen understood him well. So, he hopes, will we. The whole novel is a house built to his indications, and we are about to be walked through it.

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