Machado de Assis

(1839-1908)



Machado de Assis 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