The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis [Hardcover]

For the first time, the short stories of this 19th-century Brazilian master have been collected and translated into English, allowing the reader to trace the arc of Machados career, from the straightforward early love stories to the postmodern later works. Certain preoccupations persist: alluring widows, na?ve young men, a fondness for coincidence. Above all looms the figure of the bibliomane. 'This is my family,' one says, pointing to his bookshelf. Like his characters, Machado was a creature of literature; ink ran in his veins. It is breathtaking to see the development of his style as well as his deep engagement with storytelling all over the world.Perhaps the most hopeful book to appear in 2018 isA landmark volume that will be the first place that most Americans encounter [De Assis]&.A welcome omnibus edition of short fiction by the writer widely considered the greatest to have come out of Brazil.... Sometimes Machado de Assis reads like a European modernist (On that daysometime around 2222, I imaginethe paradox will take off its wings and put on the thick coat of common truth), at others like the contemporary of Melville and Flaubert that he was (I succumbed to the morbid pleasure of tormenting myself, for no good reason). In whatever regard, this collection offers plenty of evidence for why he enjoys the reputation he does, a pioneer of moods and modes that include fables, thin satires, and even gothic romances. Essential to students of Latin American and world literature.A great ironist, a tragiccomedian. . . . In his books, in their most comic moments, he underlines thesuffering by making us laugh.Another Kafka.The greatest writer everproduced in Latin America.The supreme black literaryartist to date.A major literary event& One of the pleasures of reading Machado is to encounter this comedy of detail, of human particulars& There is a worldly hunger in Machados writing, an openness to both life and art.... For Machado, literature begetslóÑ