"Be aware that frankness is the prime virtue of a dead man," writes the narrator of The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas. But while he may be dead, he is surely one of the liveliest characters in fiction, a product of one of the most remarkable imaginations in all of literature, Brazil's greatest novelist of the nineteenth century, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis.
By turns flippant and profound, The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas is the story of an unheroic man with half-hearted political ambitions, a harebrained idea for curing the world of melancholy, and a thousand quixotic theories unleashed from beyond the grave. It is a novel that has influenced generations of Latin American writers but remains refreshingly and unforgettably unlike anything written before or after it. Newly translated by Gregory Rabassa and superbly edited by Enylton de Sá Rego and Gilberto Pinheiro Passos, this Library of Latin America edition brings to English-speaking readers a literary delight of the highest order.
“Is it possible that the most modern, most startlingly avant-garde novel to appear this year was originally published in 1881?”―Parul Sehgal, New York Times
" A very great novel indeed."--The Nation
"In superbly funny books, [Machado] described the abnormalities of alienation, perversion, domination, cruelty and madness. He deconstructed empire with a thoroughness and an esthetic equilibrium that place him in a class by himself."--The New York Times Book Review
"Machado de Assis wrote some of the most deliriously adventurous fiction of the last century."--Lingua Franca
"A tour de force of surprising modernity compared with the grim realism of the time. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas displays a distinct voice--quiet, friendly, even cozy, yet full of wit and inventiveness. Cervantes comes to mind as a comparison,though the voice of Laurence Sterne (whom Machado acknowledges) can also be heard.... This is the language of visions spoken by a rogue who is trying to bedazzle and deceive the reader. Though there was an earlier translation of "The Posthumous Memoirs," here we are treated to Gregory Rabassa's magnificent new version."--The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria
"A 19th-century classic of Brazilian literature....With a masterful translation by Rabassa."--Library Journal
