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Memorial de Ayres
A Novel
Brief Description
Released just two months before his death in 1908, Memorial de Ayres 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. Ayres lives...
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See moreFrom a maverick of 20th century fiction, a domestic drama set on the cusp of Brazilβs abolition of slavery
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Description
Released just two months before his death in 1908, Memorial de Ayres 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.
Ayres 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 Ayresβand where Brazil's well-to-do ponder the momentous changes afoot.
Marked by Machado's sly humour and psychological subtletyβand set in a singularly transformative moment in Brazil's historyβMemorial de Ayres is a quietly prescient tale of personal and national legacy.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781324096795
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Ltd
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 04 August 2026
Country: United States
Imprint: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Contributors:
- Translated by Robin Patterson
- Translated by Margaret Jull Costa
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 23.0mm
Width: 147.0mm
Height: 218.0mm
Weight: 411g
Pages: 240
About the Author
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839β1908) was born in Rio de Janeiro and is the groundbreaking author of such works as Dom Casmurro and The Posthumous Memoirs of BrΓ‘s Cubas. Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson have translated the work of LΓΊcio Cardoso, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, and Clarice Lispector, among others. They live in England.
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