Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

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Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, pron. IPA: [ʒʊɐ'kĩ mɐ'riɐ mɐ'ʃadʊ dɨ 'ɐsiʃ], (June 21, 1839, Rio de Janeiro—September 29, 1908, Rio de Janeiro) was a Brazilian realist novelist, poet and short-story writer. He is widely regarded as the most important writer of Brazilian literature and his works had a great influence on Brazilian literary schools of the late 19th century and 20th century. Harold Bloom and Woody Allen are some of his admirers; Bloom calls him the greatest black writer in the history of Western literature (one should note, however, that in Brazil Machado would hardly be called black: see discussion on race in Brazil).

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[edit] Life

Son of Francisco José de Assis (a half-black housepainter, descendant of freed slaves) and Maria Leopoldina Machado de Assis (a Portuguese washerwoman), Machado de Assis lost both his mother and his only sister at an early age. Machado is said to have learned to write by himself, and he used to take classes for free will. He learned to speak French first and English later, both fluently. He started to work for newspapers in Rio de Janeiro, where he published his first works and met established writers such as Joaquim Manuel de Macedo.

In 1869 Machado de Assis married Carolina Xavier de Novaes, a Portuguese descendant of a noble family. Soon the writer got a public job and this stability permitted him to write his best works.

Machado de Assis began by writing popular novels which sold well, much in the late style of José de Alencar, but are not read much nowadays. His style changed in the 1880s, and it is for the sceptical, ironic, comedic but ultimately pessimistic works he wrote after this that he is remembered (the first novel in his 'new style' was Epitaph for a Small Winner, known by the new Gregory Rabassa translation as Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas -- a literal translation of the original title, Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas). In their brilliant comedy and ironic playfulness, these resemble in some ways the contemporary works of George Meredith in the United Kingdom, and Eça de Queirós in Portugal, but Machado de Assis' work have a far bleaker emotional undertone. Assis' work has also been compared with Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy.

Machado de Assis could speak English fluently and translated many works of William Shakespeare and other English writers into Portuguese. This explains his numerous allusions to Shakespearean plays, John Milton and the overall likeness to Sterne and Meredith. He is also known as a master of the short story, having written classics of the genre in the Portuguese languages, such as O Alienista and Missa do Galo.

Together with other writers and intellectuals, Machado de Assis founded the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1896 and was its president from 1897 to 1908.

[edit] Poetry

Machado de Assis' first published works were poetry, but his output in this genre is not as well considered as his prose.

  • Crisálidas (1864)
  • Falenas (1870)
  • Americanas (1875)

[edit] Dom Casmurro

Machado de Assis was fascinated with the theme of jealousy, and many of his novels are built on this intrigue. One of his most popular ones, Dom Casmurro, is still widely read in Brazilian schools. The volume reflects Machado de Assis' life as a translator of Shakespeare, and also his influence from French realism, especially Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert and Émile Zola. In the novel, he also refers to Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and most importantly, Othello.

Here, Machado de Assis shows a different version for the classical one of adultery: it is told through the eyes of Bento (Bentinho), the betrayed husband. Throughout the story, the character asks himself whether his beloved Capitu (Capitolina, in allusion to the roman emperor Capitolinus), a version of Desdemona, has indeed cheated on him with his best friend, and whether the son she gave birth to is in fact the son of his best friend. The book never gives a direct answer to the questions, and the outcome is still one of the major ones among Brazilian literature fans and critics.

Another measure of the writer's literary achievement is given by the more profane conclusion that, were Capitu and Bento to go to court, neither would be able to win solely on the basis of details comprised in the novel.

Some commentators of Machado de Assis' works:

  • Helen Caldwell
  • John Gledson

[edit] List of works

  • 1864 - Crisálidas (Chrysalids; poetry)
  • 1870 - Falenas (Phalaenae; poetry)
  • 1870 - Contos Fluminenses (Fluminensis Tales)
  • 1872 - Resurrection (Ressurreição)
  • 1873 - Histórias da Meia Noite (Stories of Midnight)
  • 1874 - The Hand and the Glove (A Mão e a Luva)
  • 1875 - Americanas (poetry)
  • 1876 - Helena
  • 1878 - Iaiá Garcia (Mistress Garcia)
  • 1881 - Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, also known in English as Epitaph for a Small Winner)
  • 1882 - Papéis Avulsos (Single Papers)
  • 1884 - Histórias sem data (Undated Stories)
  • 1891 - Quincas Borba
  • 1896 - Várias histórias (Several Stories)
  • 1899 - Páginas recolhidas (Retained Pages)
  • 1899 - Dom Casmurro (Sir Dour)
  • 1901 - Poesias completas (Complete poetries)
  • 1904 - Esaú e Jacó (Esau and Jacob)
  • 1906 - Relíquias da Casa Velha (Relics of the Old House)
  • 1908 - Counselor Aires's Memorial (Memorial de Aires)

[edit] References

  • Andrade; Mário. (1943) Aspectos da literatura brasileira. Rio de Janeiro: Americ. Ed.
  • Aranha; Graça. (1923) Machado de Assis e Joaquim Nabuco: Comentários e notas à correspondência. São Paulo: Monteiro Lobato.
  • Barreto Filho. (1947) Introdução a Machado de Assis. Rio de Janeiro: Agir.
  • Bosi; Alfredo. (Organizador) Machado de Assis.
  • Bosi; Alfredo. (2000) Machado de Assis: o emigma do olhar. São Paulo: Ática.
  • Bosi; Alfredo. Folha explica Machado de Assis.
  • Broca; Brito. Machado de Assis e a política.
  • Caldwell; Helen. O Otelo brasileiro de Machado de Assis.
  • Candido; Antônio. (1970) Vários escritores. São Paulo: Duas Cidades.
  • Faoro; Raimundo (1974) Machado de Assis: pirâmide e o trapézio. São Paulo: Cia. Ed. Nacional.
  • Gledson; John. Machado de Assis: ficção e história.
  • Gomes; Eugênio. Influências inglesas em Machado de Assis.
  • Magalhães Jr.; Raimundo. Vida e obra de Machado de Assis.
  • Massa; Jean-Michel. A juventude de Machado de Assis.
  • Meyer; Augusto. (1935) Machado de Assis. Porto Alegre: Globo.
  • Meyer; Augusto. (1958) Machado de Assis 1935-1958. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria São José.
  • Paes; José Paulo. Gregos e baianos.
  • Pereira; Astrogildo. (1944) Interpretação. Rio de Janeiro: Casa do Estudante do Brasil.
  • Miguel-Pereira; Lúcia. (1936) Machado de Assis: Estudo critíco e biográfico. São Paulo: Cia. Ed. Nacional.
  • Schwarz; Roberto. Ao vencedor as batatas.
  • Schwarz; Roberto. Duas meninas.
  • Schwarz; Roberto. (1990) Um mestre na periferia do capitalismo. São Paulo: Duas Cidades.
  • Veríssimo; José. História da Literatura Brasileira.

[edit] External links

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