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The posthumous memoirs of bras cubás6/28/2023 The novel is the life story of the titular Brás Cubas, written by himself from beyond the grave, where he lies festering. It is short and immensely readable thanks to its equally short chapters it is funny it has an interesting narrative approach and it tells a story whose messages remain valid a hundred years later – and will remain valid, I don’t doubt, for many hundreds of years yet. There are many reasons for having a go with this book. Also translated as Epitaph of a Small Winner, I read Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas in the recent translation by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson, though there is also a new Penguin translation too. When I asked my director of studies for recommendations for South American literature – beyond the usual suspects – she named various people, but when she mentioned Machado and this novel specifically, she spoke with such passion that I really had no excuse not to go out and get a copy. A Brazilian and grandson of slaves, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis is probably the most important Portuguese-language writer of the past two-hundred years.
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