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Machado de Assis (1839–1908)

Author of The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

667+ Works 12,747 Members 276 Reviews 45 Favorited

About the Author

Includes the names: M de Assis, Araken Assis, Machado Assis, Joaquim Machado, Machado de Assis, Machado de Assis, Machado da Assis, Machado de Assis, Machado de Assis, Machado Assis de, Machado do Assis, Machado da Assis, Machado de Assís, Machado de Assís, Machado de Assiss, J Machado De Assis, J. Machado de Assis, Machado de Assis J., joaquimmachadodeassi, J.M. Machado de Assis, MACHADO DE ASSIS J.M., J.M. Machado de Assís, Joaquim M. M. de Assis, J.-M. Machado De Assis, משדו דה אסיס,, Joaquin De Assis Machado, Joaquin Machado de Assis, Joaquin Machado de Assis, Joachim Machado de Assis, joaquim machado de assis, Joaquim Machado de Assis, Joaquím Machado de Assis, Joaquím Machado de Assis, MACHADO DE ASSIS E OUTROS, Joaquín Machado de Assis, JoaquimMariaMacHadoDeAssis, מאשאדו די-אסיס, Joaquim N. Machado de Assis, Joaquim M. Machado de Assis, Joaquim M. Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado Assis, José Maria Machado de Assis, Joaqum Maria Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Joachim Maria Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Joachim Maria Machado de Assis, Joaquin Maria Machado De Assis, joaquim maria machado de assis, Joaquin Maria Machado de Assís, Machado de / Gledon Assis, John, Machado de Assis Joaquín María, Joaquín María Machado de Assis, Joaquim María Machado de Assís, Joaquín María Machado de Assis, Joaquín María Machado de Assís, Joaquim Maria Maria Machado de Assis, Joaquim María Machado de de Assis, TRANS. R.L. SCOTT-BUCCLEUCH MACHADO DE ASSIS, Schriftsteller Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Machado de Assis - adaptado por Felipe Greco / Mario Cau, Machado de Assis [Verfasser] Machado de Assis [Verfasser]

Disambiguation Notice:

(dut) Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was de zoon van Francisco José de Assis en Maria Leopoldina da Câmara Machado. Machado is dus niet zijn voornaam, maar een deel van zijn achternaam. Zie ook de Encyclopaedia Britannica en Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World Literature, waar hij te boek staat als "Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria".

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis signed his books as Machado de Assis, and author's profile name must be kept as its sign name. However, his books are shelved in libraries under 'M' for Machado de Assis, as it is his surname. Machado is not his first name and should not be sorted as such.

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons

Series

Works by Machado de Assis

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas (1881) 3,142 copies, 83 reviews
Dom Casmurro (1899) 2,571 copies, 57 reviews
Quincas borba (1891) — Author — 988 copies, 15 reviews
The Alienist (1882) 944 copies, 15 reviews
Esau and Jacob (1904) 376 copies, 5 reviews
Helena (1876) 343 copies, 5 reviews
Counselor Ayres' Memorial (1908) 307 copies, 6 reviews
The Hand and the Glove (1874) 246 copies, 4 reviews
The Alienist and Other Stories (1963) 173 copies, 3 reviews
Várias histórias (1900) 157 copies, 3 reviews
Contos (1987) 127 copies, 1 review
Iaiá Garcia (1878) — Author — 123 copies, 2 reviews
Ressurreição (1872) 111 copies, 3 reviews
Papéis Avulsos (1882) 109 copies, 2 reviews
The Devil's Church and Other Stories (1977) 85 copies, 2 reviews
Contos Fluminenses (1870) 76 copies, 1 review
Contos Escolhidos (1999) 64 copies, 4 reviews
Cartomante e Outros Contos, A (1990) 60 copies, 2 reviews
Histórias sem data (1900) 57 copies, 3 reviews
Histórias da Meia-Noite (1997) 51 copies, 1 review
A Chapter of Hats: Selected Stories (2008) 50 copies, 1 review
Vrouwenarmen en andere verhalen (1900) 50 copies, 1 review
Conto de Escola (1900) 49 copies, 3 reviews
A Cartomante (1998) 47 copies
Los papeles de Casa Velha (1990) 43 copies
Casa Velha (2000) 41 copies
Midnight Mass (1977) 39 copies, 1 review
Contos Consagrados (1996) 35 copies, 1 review
Machado de Assis: 26 Stories (2019) 34 copies, 1 review
Teatro (1993) 29 copies, 2 reviews
Contos de Machado de Assis (1900) 28 copies
Der geheime Grund. Die Andere Bibliothek (1996) 26 copies, 1 review
Páginas Recolhidas (1990) 25 copies, 1 review
Mulheres de Machado (2017) 18 copies
Historias Sobre Ética (2012) 17 copies
Melhores Contos (2001) 15 copies
Correspondência (1997) 15 copies, 1 review
Escritos avulsos II (1997) 14 copies
Dom Casmurro; o Alienista (1995) 13 copies
A PALAVRA É AMOR 12 copies, 1 review
O espelho e outros contos (2021) 12 copies
Balas de estalo (1997) 12 copies
Papéis Avulsos I (1997) 11 copies
O Jornal e o livro (2011) 11 copies
Teatro 2 (2000) 11 copies
Linha reta e linha curva (1993) 11 copies, 1 review
Crítica Teatral 10 copies, 1 review
O espelho (1905) 10 copies
A Semana (1996) 9 copies, 2 reviews
A Semana II 9 copies
7 contos de Machado de Assis 7 copies, 1 review
A Semana I (1997) 7 copies
Crônicas 7 copies, 1 review
CONTOS MACHADO DE ASSIS (2007) 7 copies
A Chinela Turca (2021) 6 copies
Hulluarst : (2016) 6 copies
Poesias completas (2000) 6 copies
Unknown 6 copies
Crítica & variedades (1997) 6 copies
CUENTOS DE MADUREZ (2011) 6 copies
História de quinze dias (2009) 6 copies
Escritos avulsos III (1997) 5 copies
Admiral's Night (2009) 5 copies
Adão e Eva (1996) 5 copies
Bons Dias! (2008) 5 copies
Obras Completas, v. 1 (2015) 4 copies
Cronicas Volume III 4 copies, 1 review
Cuentos (1988) 4 copies
Contos recolhidos (1990) 4 copies
Trois contes (2010) 4 copies, 1 review
52 BALAS DE ESTALO 4 copies, 1 review
RESSURREIÇAO 4 copies
Contos Esquecidos (1990) 4 copies
O almada & outros poemas (1997) 4 copies
Americanas (2009) 4 copies
Helena - O Alienista (1972) 4 copies
Contos Definitivos (2004) 3 copies
Dom Casmuro 3 copies
Contos Avulsos (1990) 3 copies
Pai contra Mãe (2012) 3 copies
Obra completa 3 copies
O velho Senado 3 copies
40 Contos Escolhidos (2011) 3 copies
Meistererzählungen (1991) 3 copies
Poesias 3 copies
O Caso da Vara [The Punishment Case] (2022) 3 copies, 1 review
A segunda vida (Portuguese Edition) (2011) 3 copies, 1 review
Causa Secreta, A (2004) 3 copies
A Carteira (2012) 3 copies
Ideias de Can‡rio (2012) 2 copies
A Parasita Azul 2 copies
O Processo De Capitu (2008) 2 copies
O Futuro (2014) 2 copies
Terpsícore (1996) 2 copies
Um Esqueleto (2012) 2 copies
Papéis Velhos (2012) 2 copies
Três Tesouros Perdidos (2012) 2 copies
Contos do Rio de Janeiro (2008) 2 copies
O Delírio (Em Portuguese do Brasil) (2010) 2 copies, 1 review
O Segredo de Augusta (2025) 2 copies
Poesias Dispersas (Portuguese Edition) (2012) 2 copies, 1 review
phalenas 2 copies
Miss Dollar (2016) 2 copies, 1 review
Luís Soares (2011) 2 copies, 1 review
Histórias Do Carnaval (2021) 2 copies
Ficciones desde Brasil (2012) 2 copies
A Mulher de Preto (2025) 2 copies, 1 review
Tomás More e a Utopia (2007) 1 copy
O espelho 1 copy
Dom Casmurro 1 copy
The Alienist — Author — 1 copy
IAÍA GARCIA 1 copy
Umas Férias (2008) 1 copy
Ubjara 1 copy
o alíenista 1 copy
O enfermeiro 1 copy
O alienista 1 copy
DAIÁ GARCIA 1 copy
Quelques Contes (2016) 1 copy
Papéis Avulsos (1900) 1 copy
POESIA 1 copy
Esaú y Jacob 1 copy, 1 review
IAIÁ 1 copy
Lalá Garcia 1 copy
PSIKIATRI 1 copy
Várias histórias (2019) 1 copy
O Espelho em HQ 1 copy, 1 review
Holidays 1 copy, 1 review
Sem Olhos 1 copy
Crítica 1 copy
Romance 1 copy
Quem me dera... (2021) 1 copy
Frei Simão 1 copy, 1 review
Cantiga de Esponsais (2024) 1 copy
Astúcias de marido (2012) 1 copy
Metafísica das rosas (2012) 1 copy
Identidade (2023) 1 copy
Elogio da vaidade (2012) 1 copy
O Contrato (2012) 1 copy
O Caso da Viúva (2012) 1 copy
O Caminho de Damasco (2012) 1 copy
Na arca (2023) 1 copy
Histórias 1 copy
O Corvo 1 copy
Notas semanais (2008) 1 copy
Contos Essenciais (2014) 1 copy
El alienista (Spanish Edition) (2020) 1 copy, 1 review
SEM TITULO 1 copy
Psikiatri 1 copy, 1 review
Don Kazmurro 1 copy, 1 review
Histórias (1995) 1 copy
CONTOS S.C.B 1 copy
Primeros cuentos (2017) 1 copy
La Montre en or et autres contes (2015) — Author — 1 copy
Diez historias cortas (2006) 1 copy
Papéis avulsos (2020) 1 copy
Sete contos 1 copy
Quando ela fala (2001) 1 copy
Teoria do Medalhão (1881) 1 copy

Associated Works

The World's Greatest Short Stories (2006) — Contributor — 325 copies, 2 reviews
The Eye of the Heart: Short Stories from Latin America (1973) — Contributor — 164 copies, 2 reviews
Great Short Stories of the World (1925) — Contributor — 163 copies, 1 review
A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes: Stories from Latin America (1991) — Contributor — 162 copies, 3 reviews
The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories (1997) — Contributor — 121 copies
Found In Translation (2018) — Contributor, some editions — 61 copies
Brazilian Tales (1921) — Contributor — 16 copies
Melhores Contos Brasileiros de Ficcao Cientifica, Os (2007) — Contributor — 10 copies
Quem conta um conto... e outros contos — Contributor — 1 copy
Christmas Short Works Collection 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Machado de Assis
Legal name
Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria
Other names
Machado de Assis
Birthdate
1839-06-21
Date of death
1908-09-29
Gender
male
Occupations
poet
novelist
short story writer
printer's apprentice
playwright
Organizations
Academia Brasileira de Letras
Awards and honors
Order of the Rose of Brazil (1888)
Nationality
Brazil
Birthplace
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Places of residence
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (birth ∙ death)
Place of death
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Burial location
Cemitério São João Batista, Rio de Janeiro
Map Location
Brazil
Disambiguation notice
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis signed his books as Machado de Assis, and author's profile name must be kept as its sign name.

However, his books are shelved in libraries under 'M' for Machado de Assis, as it is his surname. Machado is not his first name and should not be sorted as such.

Members

Discussions

Group Read, February 2021: The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas in 1001 Books to read before you die (February 2021)

Reviews

295 reviews
Epitaph of a Small Winner is worth reading much more for its innovative style than its substance. Machado de Assis manages to make a 19th century novel feel like it could have been written yesterday, and the rapid transition between chapters (there are 160 chapters in 209 pages) keeps things fresh and fun. But man, our narrator's a real doofus.

Braz Cubas, a dead guy who's decided to write his memoirs from beyond the grave, takes a pessimistic view of the world, concluding the book by saying show more the only positive he can take from his life is that he failed to father a child, thereby declining to increase the suffering in the world. But all of Braz Cubas' "suffering" amounted to a series of minor grievances and failed relationships with women he never cared about beyond a superficial level. He was born financially secure and died financially secure through no hard work of his own. I get that the human condition is difficult to handle, but I'm not interested in the complaints of a wealthy narcissist who never made much of an effort to look for happiness beyond creature comforts and boobs.

I guess his thoughts could still change, though. If he can write while he's dead now, I imagine he could alter his thoughts to fit with whatever seems to make sense in the future. As his phiolosophical mentor Quincas Borba said, "The worst philosophy of all is that of the crybaby who lies down at the edge of the river and bewails the incessant flow of the water."

I don't want to rip him too hard anyway, because he can be pretty funny sometimes. Braz Cubas is constantly changing his mind about what he wants to write and will even occasionally write chapters that ask the reader to discount the previous chapter entirely. It's nice of a dead guy to have a sense of humor about things.

Woody Allen loves this book. I wouldn't go that far, but I also wouldn't go as far with my daughter as he has with his, so I feel pretty OK about just liking this one.
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tempora mutantur

“…time hardens sensibility and obliterates the memory of things. It was to be supposed that the years would dull the thorns, that a removal from the events would smooth the sore spots, that a shadow of retrospective doubt would cover the nakedness of reality.”

This was great, and it’s incredible that this book was published in 1881. Probably the ultimate precursor to the modern novel. This book is composed of short fragments, which are shards of a life retold from show more beyond the grave. The book’s protagonist looks back on his life, from his perspective as a wealthy bachelor in 19th century Brazil.

Cubas is an imperfect protagonist. Part of his familial inherited wealth comes from slavery, he is a precocious and mean child, becomes a romantic as a young man drawn to poetry and art, has a long adulterous affair that lasts for years, has a failed political and publishing career as a middle-aged man, and finally dies, all these episodes infused with philosophical musings on life, love, grief, power and death. According to Cubas:

“Every season of life is an edition that corrects the one before and which will also be corrected itself until the definitive edition, which the publisher gives to the worms gratis.”

This was really good. The proverbial fourth wall is broken and smashed and basically obliterated throughout the book, and hilariously so too. This is the second De Assis book I have read, The Alienist was my first, a more sombre read which was also good, but this is certainly my favourite of the two, and I’ll hopefully be reading more from the writer.
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This most unique novel is very well known and well regarded in Brazil, but is largely unknown elsewhere. Every once in a while it's "rediscovered" (most recently, due to a new translation) by someone who wonders how a novel from the late 19th century can be so modern.

This is my second reading (first time was back in high school), and it remains one of the most hilarious, most radical and most puzzling (in a good way) novels I've read. Like Pale Fire, which I read earlier this year, it plays show more so much with the form of the novel that it's hard to say what the novel is. It could be called postmodern, except it's not recent enough for that.

Part of it is a straightforward love story; part of it is social critique, and part of it is about philosophy and the human condition. The structure of the novel consists of hundreds of very short chapters, which means that it's constantly switching gears. Despite that the author of the memoirs is supposed to be dead, which means that he's not bound by time constraints or fear of public opinion, which would allow him to write an honest history of his life, his writing is full of twists and turns, never settling into a conventional narrative.

It's so full of energy that it's not surprising that people think of it as very current. It doesn't feel like a 19th century novel at all. Although, it might show a bit of age in the references it makes--and the book makes many, both to itself and to other literary works: a lot of them are references to 18th and 19th century works that might not be familiar to modern readers. (Some of them were not familiar to me, to be sure.) Otherwise it's as current as ever.
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The reader, like his fellows, doubtless prefers action to reflection, and doubtless he is wholly in the right. So we shall get to it. However, I must advise that this book is written leisurely, with the leisureliness of a man no longer troubled by the flight of time; that is a work supinely philosophical, but of a philosophy wanting in uniformity, now austere, now playful, a thing that neither edifies nor destroys, neither inflames nor chills, and that is at once more of a pastime and less
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than a preachment.


The more I read, the more I come to understand that the trait I admire most in authors is not so much a matter of elegant prose, complex plots, characters that leap off the pages and make their home in your heads when the last page has been turned and the story has ended. Those are all very entertaining in their own right, but clever is as clever does, and rarely provokes long-lasting admiration in my mind. What I prefer is a simple matter of trust, belief, faith even if that is the direction your theological tendencies swing. Faith of the author in themselves, but more importantly, enough faith in their audience to lead them without expounding, carry them along in the pages without tending to their every need and pandering to their every expectation.

Some would disagree with me on that point. In fact, many would, all those folks who dislike books for "trying too hard" and "being too smart". Those who feel that the author did not adhere to the formula enough to guarantee formulaic enjoyment of the audience, and decry them for leading them out of their literary comfort zones and making them confront a strange beast of ink and paper. Oftentimes they look at this weird creature and see something of themselves inside it. Sometimes this bothers them. More frequently than you'd expect, this scares them.

So what does this have to do with this book here, you ask? Good question. I haven't quite figured it out myself, actually. At least, not at this exact point in time, as I type down these words in the middle of a coffee shop, the book itself on my right and a list of its quotes on the left. That's why you're here. You're joining me on this journey, the goal of which is to find the purpose of conducting in the first place. Circular, no? But true.

What this book achieves is an astounding thing in this current age, but even moreso when one takes into account the year of publication. 1880, two years after The Brothers Karamazov and four years before The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If you asked me which is more closely related to this particular specimen, I'd have to say TBK. But only in terms of the wealth of philosophical content, the exacting and measured analysis of the human condition, the grappling with questions of success, reputation, and mortality. TBK tells you a story in a sonorous tone, preaches from the pulpit of its well-deserved yet greatly intimidating authorial presence. This book hops up on the stand, poses with hand on hip, says a few words in a serious tone, then quickly hops down and invites you to the back table to ruminate and reminisce over a few choice bottles of the finest vintages. There is a man behind the curtain, and he doesn't bother to pretend that he doesn't know that you know that he knows it's there. Instead, he welcomes you into his humble abode, and asks if you wish to hear a story. And trust me, reader, you really should say yes.

Why? Why do we want to hear this story from this author, one who breaks off from all conventions in serving us what cannot at all be deemed a novel? One hundred and sixty bits and pieces of one, perhaps, but how could that possibly flow as strongly and as soothingly as a single entity, one that admittedly breaks off into chapters but ensures that each chapter is a well-rounded stepping stone to the next? Instead, we have this book, whose sections sometimes contain no more than a paragraph, a single sentence, even at some point a series of dots (or ellipses? Impossible to tell). How can a story possibly be told in such an erratic and incomprehensible fashion?

Through conscientious and deliberate interaction of the author with his audience, who predicts their interests and invites them to go beyond it. Through knowledgeable understatement, conveying through simple events powerful ideas on life, love, and the death that the author supposedly composes in, without once feeling the need to paint an obvious map for the reader to jerk themselves around on. Through a measured and insightful eye on the actions of the main character, creating a man that dwells on deep thoughts without realization and dismisses them for frivolities and pleasure, yet is incontrovertibly shaped by the powerful undertow. A man who is both infuriatingly obtuse and startlingly sensitive, capable of great cruelty and great understanding. A man who lived without effort, and died before making an effort. A man, now dead, writing of a life that he felt was lived without achieving any measure of great suffering, or amount of great joy.

Perhaps he never did acquire those things he longed for so long in life. He did, however, find one thing: a small amount of truth in his life, one that reconciled his mortality with his visions of success, and contented him with living in constant and clear-sighted observation of himself and of others. The character may have never realized the beauty of his thoughts, the wonderful philosophies he drew from a privileged, yet empty living. I believe, however, that the author trusted us enough to discover those for ourselves. However much he played with us during the course of the pages, flattering our sensibilities while baffling our literary conventions, he trusted us to go through his pages and discover something on our own, for our own. That something, however small, is worth everything.
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Statistics

Works
667
Also by
11
Members
12,747
Popularity
#1,837
Rating
4.1
Reviews
276
ISBNs
1,300
Languages
24
Favorited
45

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