Synopses & Reviews
Novelist, poet, playwright, and short story writer Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839andndash;1908) is widely regarded as Brazilandrsquo;s greatest writer, although his work is still too little read outside his native country. In this first comprehensive English-language examination of Machado since Helen Caldwellandrsquo;s seminal 1970 study, K. David Jackson reveals Machado de Assis as an important world author, one of the inventors of literary modernism whose writings profoundly influenced some of the most celebrated authors of the twentieth century, including Josandeacute; Saramago, Carlos Fuentes, and Donald Barthelme. Jackson introduces a hitherto unknown Machado de Assis to readers, illuminating the remarkable life, work, and legacy of the genius whom Susan Sontag called andldquo;the greatest writer ever produced in Latin Americaandrdquo; and whom Allen Ginsberg hailed as andldquo;another Kafka.andrdquo; Philip Roth has said of him that andldquo;like Beckett, he is ironic about suffering.andrdquo; And Harold Bloom has remarked of Machado that andldquo;heandrsquo;s funny as hell.andrdquo;
About the Author
K. David Jackson is professor of Portuguese and director of undergraduate studies of Portuguese at Yale University. He lives in Woodbridge, CT.