"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 Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas-at the end of the narrator's life. Published in 1881, this highly experimental novel was not at first considered Machado de Assis' definitive work-a fact his narrator anticipated, bidding "good riddance" to the critic looking for a "run-of-the-mill-novel". Yet in this coruscating new translation, Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson reveal a pivotal moment in Machado's career, as his flights of the surreal became his literary hallmark. An enigmatic, amusing and frequently insufferable anti hero, Bras Cubas describes his Rio de Janeiro childhood spent tormenting household slaves, his bachelor years of torrid affairs and his final days obsessing over nonsensical poultices. A novel that helped launch modernist fiction, Bras Cubas shines a direct light to Ulysses and Love in the Time of Cholera.

About the Author
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was born in Rio de Janeiro and, as well as his seven short-story collections, wrote such groundbreaking novels as Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, Dom Casmurro, Quincas Borba and The Alienist. Margaret Jull Costa, who has translated Javier Marias and Jose Saramago, lives in England. Robin Patterson has translated Jose Luandino Vieira and lives in England.

Reviews
"One of the wittiest, most playful, and therefore most alive and ageless books ever written." -- Dave Eggers
"An offbeat, invigorating classic is perfect reading for a morbid summer." -- The Economist



Book Information
ISBN 9781631495328
Author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 502g
Dimensions(mm) 244mm * 163mm * 25mm