Machado de Assis (1839-1908)

Considered the most important writer of Brazilian Realism is Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. Machado was born in Rio de Janeiro and he was son of a freed slave and a Portuguese woman. He received little formal education and worked as typesetter at a publishing house, he was soon well-known with most of the world's literature.

His work reflects the inclinations of numerous European literary movements of the19th-century, including romanticism, realism, naturalism, impressionism, and symbolism. He is generally regarded as Brazil's greatest novelist.
After being initiated to Realism, Machado de Assis changed his way and his themes, producing some of the most extraordinary prose ever written in Portuguese.
Machado was also a minor poet, writing mostly casual poetry of extraordinary exactness and beauty. Recent criticism has considered it better than that of many of his contemporaries.

Machado's most crucial works include:

Romance

Ressurreição, 1872
A mão e a luva, 1874
Helena, 1876
Iaiá Garcia, 1878
Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, 1881
Casa Velha, 1885
Quincas Borba, 1891
Dom Casmurro, 1899
Esaú e Jacó, 1904
Memorial de Aires, 1908

Poesia

Crisálidas, 1864
Falenas, 1870
Americanas, 1875
Ocidentais, 1880
Poesias completas, 1901

Livros de contos

Contos Fluminenses, 1870
Histórias da Meia-Noite, 1873
Papéis Avulsos, 1882
Histórias sem Data, 1884
Várias Histórias, 1896
Páginas Recolhidas, 1899
Relíquias da Casa Velha, 1906

Alguns contos

A Carteira (conto do livro Contos Fluminenses)
Miss Dollar (conto do livro Contos Fluminenses)
O Alienista (conto do livro Papéis Avulsos)

Teatro

Hoje avental, amanhã luva, 1860
Queda que as mulheres têm para os tolos, 1861
Desencantos, 1861
O caminho da porta, 1863

Crisálidas