Epitaph of a Small Winner A Novel

by de Assis, Machado; Grossman, William L.; Sontag, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780374531232
• ISBN10: 0374531234
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-29
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

In these memoirs, Braz Cubas, a wealthy nineteenth-century Brazilian, examines (from beyond the grave) his rather undistinguished life in 160 short chapters that are filled with philosophical digressions and exuberant insights. A clear forerunner of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges,Epitaph for a Small Winner, first published in 1880, is one of the wittiest self-portraits in literary history as well as "one of the masterpieces of Brazilian literature" (Salman Rushdie). Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was born in Rio de Janeiro. Among his many works arePhilosopher or Dog?andDom Casmurro. He is considered one of Brazil's greatest novelists. "I am a deceased writer not in the sense of one who has written and is now deceased, but in the sense of one who has died and is now writing." So begins the posthumous memoir of Braz Cubas, a wealthy nineteenth-century Brazilian. Though the grave has given Cubas the distance to examine his rather undistinguished life, it has not dampened his sense of humor. In 160 short chapters, he covers the basics of his existence and expands into philosophical explorations that sometimes follow meandering paths of thought to unexpected places, at times exuberant and hilarious, at other times cynical and at odds with the world that surrounds him. In the tradition of Laurence Sterne and Jonathan Swift--and as a clear forerunner of the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges--Epitaph of a Small Winner, first published in 1880, is one of the wittiest literary self-portraits. "Machado de Assis was a literary force, transcending nationality and language, comparable certainly to Flaubert, Hardy, or James . . .Epitaph of a Small Winneris clearly one of those books which we call definitive. It is there, complete, done: a study of ironic disillusionment couched in the most delicate suavity of despair."--The New York Times Book Review "No satirist, not even Swift, is less merciful in his exposure of the pretentiousness and the hypocrisy that lurk in the average good man and woman. Machado, in his deceptively amiable way, is terrifying."--The New Republic "Machado de Assis . . . is held by many to be not only Brazil's greatest writer but on a par with Henry James, Flaubert and Hardy [with] his enchantingly digressive style, sly humor and merciless exposure of hypocrisy and pretentiousness."--Liz Calder,The Guardian "A masterpiece of Epicurean irony."--The New York Times "[Machado] is really a post-modernist writer . . . Alongside [his] very nineteenth-century irresistible habit of confiding directly in his readers, we find a text that has been deliberately and playfully fragmented . . . He demonstrates the irresistable tug of our basest desires, and the emptiness of our high philosophies."--Louis de Bernieres, author ofCorelli's Mandolin Contents 1. The Death of the Author 2. The Plaster 3. Genealogy 4. The Fixed Idea 5. In Which a Lady Appears at the Door 6. Chimene, Qui L'eut Dit? Rodrigue, Qui L'eut Cru? 7. The Delirium 8. Reason versus Folly 9. Transition 10. On That Day 11. The Child Is Father to the Man 12. An Episode of 1814 13. A Jump 14. The First Kiss 15. Marcella 16. An Immoral Thought 17. Concerning the Trapeze and Other Matters 18. Vision in the Hallway 19. On Board 20. I Acquire a Bachelor's Degree 21. The Muleteer

Author Biography

Machado de Assis (1839-1908) is considered one of Brazil’s greatest novelists.

Table of Contents

"Epitaph of a Small Winner is probably one of those thrillingly original, radically skeptical books that will always impress readers with the force of private discovery." —From the foreword by Susan Sontag

"Machado de Assis was a literary force, transcending nationality and language, comparable certainly to Flaubert, Hardy, or James...Epitaph of a Small Winner is clearly one of those books which we call definitive. It is there, complete, done: a study of ironic disillusionment couched in the most delicate suavity of despair..." —The New York Times Book Review

"No satirist, not even Swift, is less merciful in his exposure of the pretentiousness and the hypocrisy that lurk in the average good man and woman. Machado, in his deceptively amiable way, is terrifying." —The New Republic

"A masterpiece of Epicurean irony." —The New York Times