Featuring ten stories never before translated, dating from 1878 to 1886 (regarded as Joaquim Machado de Assis's most radically experimental period), this selection of short fiction by Brazil's greatest author ranges in tone from elegiac and philosophical to impishly ironic. Including the author's classic essay on world literature-also appearing in English for the first time-and with pieces chosen from his vast body of work for their playfulness, pathos, and stylistic subversion, this collection is an ideal introduction to one of world literature's greatest talents. "A prodigy of accomplishment...deserving of a permanent place in world literature" - Susan Sontag "Everything about Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis seems double. There's before and after, domestic and metaphysical, high and low, black and white, erotic and austere, short and long, trapped and free, gentle and cruel, perceived and real. The 200 or so stories he wrote spin out these oppositions into a remarkable variousness."-Peter Robb, Times Literary Supplement "There is in Machado's prose a playfulness that teases the reader, humor that mocks solemnity and seriousness. He punctures pretentiousness and ridicules received ideas (...) The range of allusions in his work would have amazed even Nabokov. And as with Nabokov, indeed as with any work of art which gives us what Nabokov calls the shiver between the shoulder blades, what elicits one's astonished admiration is not to do with subject matter...but with that abstract and elusive concept...which manifests itself in that purely aesthetic thing called style." - Zulfikar Ghose, Context No. 12

About the Author
Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis (1839 - 1908), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis or just Machado, was a celebrated Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer. He was widely regarded as the greatest Brazilian writer of all time, and as one of the world's greatest novelists and short story writers. In his honor, the Brazilian Academy of Letters founded the Premio Machado de Assis (Machado de Assis Prize), the most prestigious literary award in Brazil. Rhett McNeil is a scholar, critic, and literary translator from Texas. His translations include novels and short stories from some of the most innovative and accomplished authors on the world literary scene, including Antonio Lobo Antunes, Enrique Vila-Matas, Goncalo M. Tavares, Joao Almino, A.G. Porta, as well as the Brazilian master, Machado de Assis. Rhett McNeil is a scholar, critic, and literary translator from Texas. His translations include novels and short stories from some of the most innovative and accomplished authors on the world literary scene, including Antonio Lobo Antunes, Enrique Vila-Matas, Goncalo M. Tavares, Joao Almino, A.G. Porta, as well as the Brazilian master, Machado de Assis.

Reviews
A prodigy of accomplishment... deserving of a permanent place in world literature. -- Susan Sontag I couldn't believe he lived as long ago as he did. You would've thought he wrote it yesterday... Great wit, great originality and no sentimentality. -- Woody Allen Machado de Assis does not belong to the Romantic and Realist current of nineteenth-century Spanish America; instead, he revives the great tradition of La Mancha: the tradition of Cervantes-Sterne-Diderot... Better yet: Machado de Assis is a miracle. -- Carlos Fuentes A rare opportunity to explore Machado de Assis' experimentation, particularly through ten stories translated into English for the first time. Rain Taxi



Book Information
ISBN 9781564788993
Author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Format Paperback
Page Count 198
Imprint Dalkey Archive Press
Publisher Dalkey Archive Press
Weight(grams) 294g
Dimensions(mm) 213mm * 137mm * 20mm