{"title":"Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis","description":"\u003cp\u003eJoaquim Maria Machado de Assis offers a masterful exploration of Brazilian society through sharp wit and profound psychological insight. His works, ranging from novels to short stories, reveal complex characters and subtle narratives that challenge traditional storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can immerse themselves in incisive narratives filled with irony and introspection, where the boundaries between reality and illusion often blur. This collection invites reflection on human nature and social conventions within the rich tapestry of 19th-century culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"dom-casmurro-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781324095149","title":"Dom Casmurro","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1899, \u003cem\u003eDom Casmurro\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBento 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"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 neighbours 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt once oblivious and obsessive, Bento becomes a strangely engaging antihero as he mines the repercussions of his suspicions against the backdrop of a rapidly modernising 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 \u003cem\u003eThe Collected Stories\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e—and brimming with his signature charm, \u003cem\u003eDom Casmurro\u003c\/em\u003e is a subversive and groundbreaking dark comedy from one of Brazil's greatest authors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853253955820,"sku":"9781324095149","price":33.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11635883482659.jpg?v=1759193107"},{"product_id":"dom-casmurro-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781324090700","title":"Dom Casmurro","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1899, \u003cem\u003eDom Casmurro\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBento 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"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 neighbourhood, when he and Capitu were neighbours 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt once oblivious and obsessive, Bento becomes a strangely engaging antihero as he mines the repercussions of his suspicions against the backdrop of a rapidly modernising 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 \u003cem\u003eThe Collected Stories\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e—and brimming with his signature charm, \u003cem\u003eDom Casmurro\u003c\/em\u003e is a subversive and groundbreaking dark comedy from one of Brazil's greatest authors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853254021356,"sku":"9781324090700","price":52.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11591393482659.jpg?v=1759193117"},{"product_id":"posthumous-memoirs-of-bras-cubas-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781631495328","title":"Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"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 \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJoaquim 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFantastical in structure and enthralling in tone, \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853289148652,"sku":"9781631495328","price":52.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24286563482768.jpg?v=1759195254"},{"product_id":"posthumous-memoirs-of-bras-cubas-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781324090502","title":"Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"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 \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e, 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.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJoaquim 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFantastical in structure and enthralling in tone, \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853289279724,"sku":"9781324090502","price":51.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11589413482659.jpg?v=1759195270"},{"product_id":"quincas-borba-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781324090687","title":"Quincas Borba","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHailed 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 \u003cem\u003eQuincas Borba\u003c\/em\u003e, a novel that sees Machado satirise a rapidly changing Rio de Janeiro.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlayfully 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 \u003cem\u003eDom Casmurro, The Collected Stories, and Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e—\u003cem\u003eQuincas Borba\u003c\/em\u003e is another strikingly modern tale from a blazing progenitor of twentieth-century fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853291147500,"sku":"9781324090687","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11591263482659.jpg?v=1759195374"},{"product_id":"the-collected-stories-of-machado-de-assis-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9780871404961","title":"The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWidely 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 rivalled contemporaries like Chekhov, Flaubert, and Maupassant, but, shockingly, he was barely translated into English until 1963 and still lacks proper recognition today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawn to the master's psychologically probing tales of fin-de-siècle 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBorn 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.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePredominantly 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, theatres and cafés, \"the Via Dolorosa of long-suffering husbands\"—to the port areas of Saúde and Gamboa, and the former Valongo slave market.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne 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 scrutinise every nook and cranny of the human heart.\" Now, \u003cem\u003eThe Collected Stories of Machado de Assis\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853311332588,"sku":"9780871404961","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/6546193482498.jpg?v=1759196572"},{"product_id":"quincas-borba-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781324096702","title":"Quincas Borba","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHailed 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 \u003cem\u003eQuincas Borba\u003c\/em\u003e, a novel that sees Machado satirise a rapidly changing Rio de Janeiro.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlayfully 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 \u003cem\u003eDom Casmurro, The Collected Stories, and Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas\u003c\/em\u003e—\u003cem\u003eQuincas Borba\u003c\/em\u003e is another strikingly modern tale from a blazing progenitor of twentieth-century fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46998566207724,"sku":"9781324096702","price":35.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11651413482659.jpg?v=1763221531"},{"product_id":"memorial-de-ayres-by-joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis-9781324096795","title":"Memorial de Ayres","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReleased just two months before his death in 1908, \u003cem\u003eMemorial de Ayres\u003c\/em\u003e was Machado de Assis's final novel. Written in the form of a diary, it follows the day-to-day happenings of a retired diplomat, Counselor Ayres, during the waning years of the Brazilian empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAyres lives a simple life: The most eventful parts of his week are lunch with his sister or a visit to their family cemetery. But a new love interest pushes Ayres from the confines of his quiet routine and into the warm, welcoming home of the Aguiars, an older couple who never had children. The Aguiar household is a centre of merriment, a necessary outlet for the reclusive Ayres—and where Brazil's well-to-do ponder the momentous changes afoot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMarked by Machado's sly humour and psychological subtlety—and set in a singularly transformative moment in Brazil's history—\u003cem\u003eMemorial de Ayres\u003c\/em\u003e is a quietly prescient tale of personal and national legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48243083182316,"sku":"9781324096795","price":68.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781324096795-memorial-de-ayres-1.jpg?v=1787980414"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/joaquim-maria-machado-de-assis.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}