Machado De Assis: 262 books

When Luís Negreiros returns home from the office one evening, he finds a fine watch and chain on a table in his bedroom. The watch isn't his and can't be his young and beautiful wife Clarinha's, either. Whose is it then? Luís Negreiros's suspicions are immediately aroused. Translated from Portuguese (Brazil) by Juan LePuen Genre: short story Length: 2,820 words

"'Now, you’ve played cards with so many people, but only once, a long time ago, have you played with me, écarté. Isn’t écarté the name of that game you taught me? Let’s play a game.' Xavier started laughing."So says Dona Paula to her husband Xavier before they start playing...

A classic work of literature by “the greatest author ever produced in Latin America.” (Susan Sontag)   Brilliant physician Simão Bacamarte sacrifices a prestigious career to return home and dedicate himself to the budding field of psychology. Bacamarte opens the first asylum in Brazil hoping...

The noted Brazilian critic, José Verissimo, in a short but important essay on the deficiencies of his country's letters, has expressed serious doubt as to whether there exists a genuinely Brazilian literature. "I do not know," he writes, "whether the existence of an entirely independent literature is...

"People recall an abyss with pleasure; it is impossible to recall a bore without dread. Sooner the Tarpeian Rock than an author of ill repute."Genre: short storyLength: 1,500 wordsTranslated from Portuguese (Brazil) by Juan LePuen

The aging clerk Coimbra no longer believes in much. Not even his long-standing faith in the lottery--"I'm no longer of the age to hope," he admits--is entirely steadfast. He resolves, then, to buy one last ticket, for the drawing for the huge sum of five hundred contos.Translated from Portuguese (Brazil) by Juan LePuenGenre: short storyLength: 5,000 words

"I felt an acute pain in the top part of my skull; a foreign object went in to the inside of my brain. I know nothing else. I think I fainted. When I came to, the laboratory was empty. Father and daughter had disappeared. I had the impression there was a curtain in front of me. A loud and hoarse voice...

Martinha, in her forties, finds herself alone. She has only the old aunt she lives with. One day, going through the mementos of her youth, she comes across a dried flower and reminisces about the circumstances in which, rare, beautiful, and fresh, it was given to her.Genre: short storyLength: 2,000 wordsTranslated from Portuguese (Brazil) by Juan LePuen

"'Now, you’ve played cards with so many people, but only once, a long time ago, have you played with me, écarté. Isn’t écarté the name of that game you taught me? Let’s play a game.' Xavier started laughing." So says Dona Paula to her husband Xavier before...

Translated by Isaac Goldberg CONTENTSPRELIMINARY REMARKS THE ATTENDANT'S CONFESSION BY JOAQUIM MARIA MACHADO DE ASSITHE FORTUNE-TELLER BY JOAQUIM MARIA MACHADO DE ASSISLIFE BY JOAQUIM MARIA MACHADO DE ASSITHE VENGEANCE OF FELIX BY JOSÉ MEDEIROS E ALBUQUERQUTHE PIGEONS BY COELHO NETTAUNT ZEZE'S TEARS BY CARMEN DOLORES