Machado De Assis: The Brazilian Master And His Novels
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: price clipped dj.
At the intersection of literary genius and cultural identity stands Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Portuguese language and the founding father of Brazilian literature — and Helen Caldwell's landmark critical study brings this towering figure into sharp, revelatory focus. Published in 1970, this seminal work presents a rigorous and elegant analysis of Machado de Assis's major novels, tracing the threads of irony, unreliable narration, and psychological complexity that define his singular voice, from the audacious Epitaph of a Small Winner to the masterful Dom Casmurro. Caldwell, who was also the definitive English-language translator of Machado's prose, argues with authority and precision that his work anticipates many of the narrative innovations later celebrated in European modernism, positioning him as a genuinely world-historical literary figure long overlooked by Western criticism. Her prose is lucid and deeply informed, balancing close textual reading with rich biographical and cultural context, and illuminating the ways in which 19th-century Rio de Janeiro shaped Machado's darkly comic worldview. This is an indispensable volume for anyone who has ever wondered how one man, writing from the periphery of the Western canon, could so quietly revolutionize the art of the novel.
Author: Helen Caldwell
Format: Hardback
Published: 1970, University of California Press
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: price clipped dj.
At the intersection of literary genius and cultural identity stands Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Portuguese language and the founding father of Brazilian literature — and Helen Caldwell's landmark critical study brings this towering figure into sharp, revelatory focus. Published in 1970, this seminal work presents a rigorous and elegant analysis of Machado de Assis's major novels, tracing the threads of irony, unreliable narration, and psychological complexity that define his singular voice, from the audacious Epitaph of a Small Winner to the masterful Dom Casmurro. Caldwell, who was also the definitive English-language translator of Machado's prose, argues with authority and precision that his work anticipates many of the narrative innovations later celebrated in European modernism, positioning him as a genuinely world-historical literary figure long overlooked by Western criticism. Her prose is lucid and deeply informed, balancing close textual reading with rich biographical and cultural context, and illuminating the ways in which 19th-century Rio de Janeiro shaped Machado's darkly comic worldview. This is an indispensable volume for anyone who has ever wondered how one man, writing from the periphery of the Western canon, could so quietly revolutionize the art of the novel.