"Intertwines the lives of three characters in a subtly and wryly developing relationship. While the youthful Iaiaa is growing into womanhood, a tentative love affair occurs between the aristocratic Jorge and the prideful Estela. This affair is afflicted by ironic shifts of fortune and in time the maturing Iaiaa becomes a rival for Jorge's attentions"--Amazon.com.

Iaia Garcia (Studies in Romance Languages, 17) (English and Portuguese Edition)

De Assis, Joaquim Maria MacHado

Biographies & Memoirs

Univ Pr of Kentucky

New York Times Critics’ Best of the Year 
A landmark event, the complete stories of Machado de Assis finally appear in English for the first time in this extraordinary new translation.
Widely acclaimed as the progenitor of twentieth-century Latin American fiction, Machado de Assis (1839–1908)―the son of a mulatto father and a washerwoman, and the grandson of freed slaves―was hailed in his lifetime as Brazil’s greatest writer. His prodigious output of novels, plays, and stories rivaled contemporaries like Chekhov, Flaubert, and Maupassant, but, shockingly, he was barely translated into English until 1963 and still lacks proper recognition today. Drawn to the master’s psychologically probing tales of fin-de-siecle Rio de Janeiro, a world populated with dissolute plutocrats, grasping parvenus, and struggling spinsters, acclaimed translators Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson have now combined Machado’s seven short-story collections into one volume, featuring seventy-six stories, a dozen appearing in English for the first time.
Born in the outskirts of Rio, Machado displayed a precocious interest in books and languages and, despite his impoverished background, miraculously became a well-known intellectual figure in Brazil’s capital by his early twenties. His daring narrative techniques and coolly ironic voice resemble those of Thomas Hardy and Henry James, but more than either of these writers, Machado engages in an open playfulness with his reader―as when his narrator toys with readers’ expectations of what makes a female heroine in “Miss Dollar,” or questions the sincerity of a slave’s concern for his dying master in “The Tale of the Cabriolet.”
Predominantly set in the late nineteenth-century aspiring world of Rio de Janeiro―a city in the midst of an intense transformation from colonial backwater to imperial metropolis―the postcolonial realism of Machado’s stories anticipates a dominant theme of twentieth-century literature. Readers witness the bourgeoisie of Rio both at play, and, occasionally, attempting to be serious, as depicted by the chief character of “The Alienist,” who makes naively grandiose claims for his Brazilian hometown at the expense of the cultural capitals of Europe. Signifiers of new wealth and social status abound through the landmarks that populate Machado’s stories, enlivening a world in the throes of transformation: from the elegant gardens of Passeio Público and the vibrant Rua do Ouvidor―the long, narrow street of fashionable shops, theaters and cafés, “the Via Dolorosa of long-suffering husbands”―to the port areas of Saúde and Gamboa, and the former Valongo slave market.
One of the greatest masters of the twentieth century, Machado reveals himself to be an obsessive collector of other people’s lives, who writes: “There are no mysteries for an author who can scrutinize every nook and cranny of the human heart.” Now, The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis brings together, for the first time in English, all of the stories contained in the seven collections published in his lifetime, from 1870 to 1906. A landmark literary event, this majestic translation reintroduces a literary giant who must finally be integrated into the world literary canon. 6 illustratoins; Map

The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis

Literature & Fiction

United States

Liveright

Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas: A Novel

“Is it possible that the most modern, most startlingly avant-garde novel to appear this year was originally published in 1881?”―Parul Sehgal, New York Times\nNow considered a progenitor of South American fiction, Machado de Assis’s highly experimental novel is finally rendered as a stunningly contemporary work. Narrating from beyond the grave, Brás Cubas―an enigmatic, amusing and frequently insufferable antihero―describes his childhood spent tormenting household slaves, his bachelor years of torrid affairs, and his final days obsessing over nonsensical poultices. “Rejuvenated” (Pradeep Niroula, Chicago Review of Books) by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson’s fresh new translation, Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas is a work of acerbic mockery and deep pathos that offers a bird’s-eye view of how Machado de Assis launched the canon of modernist fiction.“Sprinkled with epigrams, dreams, gags and asides, the story teases, dances and delights.”―Economist Frontispiece

Quincas Borba: A Novel

Hailed in his lifetime as Brazil's greatest writer, Machado de Assis (1839-1908) has found a new generation of readers through a series of critically acclaimed translations by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson. Now, the duo returns to breathe new life into the irreverent, ambitious, and darkly funny Quincas Borba. Originally published in 1891, the novel begins with the death of its titular character, a mad philosopher infamous for spouting pessimistic theories of Humanitism. Borba leaves his fortune--including his dog, also named Quincas Borba--to Rubiao, his loyal caretaker. Adrift in the big, bad, bustling world of late-1860s Rio de Janeiro, it isn't long before Rubiao is targeted by the city's sycophants, who can smell his naiveté from a mile away. Playfully told by an omniscient--and possibly unreliable--narrator, and rife with Machado's signature satirical jabs, Quincas Borba is another strikingly modern tale from a blazing progenitor of twentieth-century fiction.

Humor & Satire

Dom Casmurro: A Novel

A masterpiece of realism, Machado de Assis's Dom Casmurro probes the mind of a distrustful husband with delusions of grandeur. Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson's critically acclaimed translations of Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas and The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis introduced a new generation of readers to one of Brazil's most groundbreaking authors. Hailed as "the greatest writer ever produced in Latin America" (Susan Sontag), Machado's genius is on full display in this fresh translation of the 1899 classic Dom Casmurro. In his supposed memoir, Bento Santiago, an engaging yet unreliable narrator, suspects his wife, Capitu, of having an affair with his closest friend. Withdrawn and obsessive, our antihero mines the origins of their love story: from childhood neighbors playing innocently in the backyard to his brief spell in a seminary to marriage and the birth of their child--whom, he fears, does not resemble him. A gripping domestic drama brimming with Machado's signature humor, this is another stunningly modern tale from the progenitor of twentieth-century fiction.

Originally published in 1899, Dom Casmurro is widely considered to be Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis's masterpiece and a progenitor of twentieth-century Latin American fiction. This exuberant new translation captures all the hilarious, maddening, and utterly compelling idiosyncrasies of one of Machado's most complex characters. Bento Santiago, our charismatic yet exceedingly unreliable narrator, nicknamed by his enemies Dom Casmurro, has become a bit of a recluse in old age. He spends his days reading and mourning the past in a house built as a replica of his childhood home. One day, musing over the painted busts of Nero, Augustus, Masinissa, and Caesar, he is inspired to write his own story, a tale of equally epic proportions. Or so, at least, he thinks. "Yes, let us begin by evoking a famous November afternoon, one I will never forget," he writes, recalling the day he fell in love with his childhood sweetheart, Capitu. Thus he transports readers back to his youth in a once fashionable neighborhood, when he and Capitu were neighbors playing innocently in the backyard. But after overcoming many obstacles, Bento's happy-ever-after ending proves short-lived when he is consumed by paranoia and jealousy. At once oblivious and obsessive, Bento becomes a strangely engaging antihero as he mines the repercussions of his suspicions against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing Rio de Janeiro. Eloquently translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson--the same duo that sparked a Machado renaissance with their brilliant translations of The Collected Stories and Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas--and brimming with his signature charm, Dom Casmurro is a subversive and groundbreaking dark comedy from one of Brazil's greatest authors.

Hailed in his lifetime as one of Latin America's greatest writers, Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was a storyteller known for his wholly innovative narrative techniques and uncanny talent for unraveling the social and political milieu of nineteenth-century Brazil. These signature traits are on full display in Quincas Borba, a novel that sees Machado satirize a rapidly changing Rio de Janeiro. Originally published in 1891, the story begins with the death of its titular character, a mad philosopher infamous for spouting pessimistic theories of "Humanitism." Borba leaves his fortune--including his dog, also named Quincas Borba--to Rubião, his loyal caretaker and a schoolteacher by trade. Bestowed with opulence beyond his wildest dreams, Rubião is quickly coaxed into the comforts of a rich man's life--the only stipulation being that he continues to care for the canine Quincas Borba with the same dedication he once did the human. Adrift in the big, bad, bustling world of late-1860s Rio de Janeiro, it isn't long before Rubião is targeted by the city's sycophants, who can smell his naïveté from a mile away. Playfully told by an omniscient and possibly unreliable narrator, the novel is at once irreverent and ambitious, brimming with barbed wit and keen philosophical inquiry. Brilliantly translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson--the duo credited with introducing a new generation of readers to Machado through their translations of Dom Casmurro, The Collected Stories, and Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas--Quincas Borba is another strikingly modern tale from a blazing progenitor of twentieth-century fiction.

Isaac Goldberg translated this 1921 collection of Brazilian Tales. Stories included are The Attendant’s Confession by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, The Fortune Teller by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, Life by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, and The Vengeance of Felix by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis. Also included are The Pigeons by Coelho Netto and Aunt Zeze’s Tears by Carmen Dolores.

Brazilian Tales

Literary

Book Jungle

Isaac Goldberg translated this 1921 collection of Brazilian Tales. Stories included are The Attendant's Confession by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, The Fortune Teller by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, Life by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, and The Vengeance of Felix by Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis. Also included are The Pigeons by Coelho Netto and Aunt Zeze's Tears by Carmen Dolores.

New York Times, "Times Critics Top Books of 2020":"The most modern, most startlingly avant-garde novel I read this year was originally published in 1881. Jull Costa and Patterson offer a peerless translation of this comic masterpiece." ―Parul Sehgal, New York Times 
Machado de Assis’s classic novel, the precursor of Latin American fiction, is finally rendered as a stunningly relevant work for twenty-first-century readers. “I passed away at two o’clock in the afternoon on a Friday in August in 1869, in my beautiful mansion in the Catumbi district of the city.” So begins Machado de Assis’s Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, told eerily from beyond the grave. First appearing in Brazil in 1881, this remarkably experimental novel was never intended by its author to be a popular “run-of-the-mill-novel.” 
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, the son of a mulatto father and a washerwoman, and the grandson of freed slaves, was not, originally, expecting literary encomiums in his lifetime, especially not for Brás Cubas. And yet, his prodigious output of novels, plays, and stories would influence generations of South American writers. Now, with this coruscating new translation of one of his most compelling novels, esteemed translators Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson reveal a pivotal moment in Machado’s career, as his flights of the surreal became his literary hallmark. 
In eloquent, contemporary prose, Costa and Patterson breathe new life into the dynamic character of Brás Cubas and reveal the vivid, tempestuous Rio de Janeiro of his time. The recently deceased Cubas narrates his life story, admitting glibly: “I am not so much a writer who has died, as a dead man who has decided to write.” His life, therefore, is relayed out of order, beginning with his funeral, and then stepping back to offer “a brief genealogical sketch.” An enigmatic, amusing and frequently insufferable anti-hero, Cubas describes his childhood spent tormenting household slaves and meddling cheekily in adult affairs, through his bachelor years navigating his own torrid affairs, up to his final days obsessing over nonsensical poultices. 
Fantastical in structure and enthralling in tone, Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas is a deeply human story of a somber life―how much of it reflects the author’s own personality we will never know. At once a work of uproarious mockery and great sympathy, this is Machado de Assis at his most pathbreaking: an incisive observer of the human condition, and a founding father of modernist fiction. frontispiece

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Books by De Assis, Joaquim Maria MacHado

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by De Assis, Joaquim Maria MacHado. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Iaia Garcia (Studies in Romance Languages, 17) (English and Portuguese Edition)

The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis

Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas: A Novel

Quincas Borba: A Novel

Dom Casmurro: A Novel

Dom Casmurro: A Novel

Quincas Borba: A Novel

Brazilian Tales

Brazilian Tales

Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas: A Novel