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Memorial de Ayres
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis has been hailed as one of Latin America's greatest writers, a progenitor...
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Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis has been hailed as one of Latin America's greatest writers, a progenitor of modernism and a masterful ironist known for his inspired critiques of nineteenth-century Brazil. Memorial de Ayres is his final novel, released just two months before his death in 1908.
In your hands is the diary of Counselor Ayres, a retired diplomat now dedicated to chronicling his day-to-day happenings during the waning years of the Brazilian Empire. Ayres will be the first to tell you that he lives a simple life: the most eventful part of his week is lunch with his sister Rita or a visit to their family cemetery.
But a new love interest--and a bet with Rita--pushes Ayres from the confines of his quiet routine into the cheery home of the Aguiars, an older couple who, like him, are childless. Soon, the merriment is permeated by whispers that the power of the empire is fading--the end of slavery draws near. As Brazil's well-to-do ponder the momentous changes afoot over card games and afternoon coffee, Ayres finds himself suddenly unsure of his place in the shifting milieu: "Everything in this world goes in fashions, except for the stars and me."
Memorial de Ayres marks the latest installment in Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson's groundbreaking series of Machado translations, the duo credited with introducing a new generation of readers to the classic author. Shot through with Machado's signature sly humor and psychological subtlety, and set during a singularly transformative time in Brazil's history, Memorial de Ayres is a quietly prescient tale of personal and national legacy.
Praise for Machado de Assis
"A writer one hundred years ahead of his time."
?Salman Rushdie
"A great ironist, a tragic comedian. . . . In his books, in their most comic moments, he underlines the suffering by making us laugh."
--Philip Roth
"One of the pleasures of reading Machado is to encounter this comedy of detail, of human particulars."
--Morten H i Jensen, Los Angeles Review of Books
"In the sureness of pace, the ingratiating swerve, Machado is peerless."
?Elizabeth Hardwick
Author: Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Published: 08/04/2026
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781324096795
Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/05/2026 pg. 1
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2026
Booklist 07/01/2026
About the Author
Costa, Margaret Jull: - Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson have translated the work of Lúcio Cardoso, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, and Clarice Lispector, among others. They live in England.Patterson, Robin: - Robin Patterson has translated José Luandino Vieira and lives in England.
De Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado: - Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was born in Rio de Janeiro and is the groundbreaking author of such works as Dom Casmurro and The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas.
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