This article looks into the place of Machado de Assis in literature and his peculiar treatment of intertextual sources through a careful analysis of three short stories from the collection "Histórias sem data." "The Devil's Church," "An Alexandrian Tale," and "The Academies of Siam" are clearly set apart from the rest of the stories in that collection, and these stories help us reconsider the thematic and stylistic scope and depth of Machado de Assis's fiction.