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Dom Casmurro (Library of Latin America) (Paperback)

by Joachim Maria Machado de Assis (Author), Joao Adolfo Hansen (Contributor) "One evening just lately, as I was coming back from town to Engenho Novo* on the Central line train, I met a young man from..." (more)
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £11.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: OUP USA; New Ed edition (1 April 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0195103092
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195103090
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 96,141 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #11 in  Books > Fiction > World > Portuguese
    #69 in  Books > Reference > Language > Translation & Interpretation

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Product Description

The New York Times Book Review
"Machado's masterpiece."

Review
Machado's masterpiece. (The New York Times Book Review )

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
One evening just lately, as I was coming back from town to Engenho Novo* on the Central line train, I met a young man from this neighborhood, whom I known by sight: enough to raise my hat to him. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A universal literature masterpiece, 19 Nov 1998
By A Customer
Machado de Assis is perhaps the greatest Portuguese language romancist, and certainly the most important Brazilian author. This book is his best work. In a very short manner, it could be desribed as a "Brazilian Ottello", but it mustn't be be considered as a version of the Shakespeare classic, but a unique story, very reach in itself. Machado has an amazing ability to make the reader feel like his characters, and involves us in a tram where the complete uncertainty and blind jealousy is thrilling, and rises our deepest passionate feelings, for or against the main character. This book is a definitely a must read for everyone who enjoys good literature.
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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Machado de Assis, 8 Jun 1999
By A Customer
Firstly, the novel is not principally intended to be an exposition of nineteenth-century Brazilian society, despite what several critics have said. That would make it pretty boring. It has more to do with the failure of memory, the inescapability of origins and the nature of the novel itself. Machado lampoons (for want of a better word) the idea of the novel as a reflection of reality; after all, Bento is very nearly a madman - on this point I'm sure Graciliano Ramos is directly indebted to Machado. This mocking approach to Realism, incidentally, gives the novel a very modern feel. Bento suffers under the illusion that he can dig up the past in a scientific, observational manner (confer his son, Ezequiel, who becomes an archaeologist). A further level of irony is that while the novel is written in the first person, we can see more of the picture than the narrator because he lets things slip. So the novel is, with a twist that Machado would have appreciated, more real than anything he could have written in the 'objective' third person because the reader is included in the creative process. There are ambiguities as well as ironies, much as in life.

The novel is also interesting as a tragedy. I suspect that Bento tries very hard to give his own story the same weight as Othello's. As I believe, he fails to compare himself satisfactorily with great tragic figures from the past or in literature (look at the statues in his home). This is because Machado knows that he is writing something better, something which doesn't need to call on past precedent because it is new. The tragedy part is very modern, because he doesn't actually kill Capitu. In fact, the only thing that really ends up murdered is his own soul.

I would argue that the basic content of Dom Casmurro could have been set anywhere. The major points of the story and characterisation could have occurred in Europe or North America.If Machado is condemning society, then that society is still - even now - omnipresent. And he was very much a part of it in his own lifetime.

Finally, please bear in mind that the book is also very funny. Look at José Dias for reference on that point, not to mention the flights of fancy.

Oh, and about whether Capitu really was unfaithful - who cares?

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece., 31 Jan 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Dom Casmurro (Library of Latin America) (Hardcover)
Here's a very short summary of the plot. It is the story of a man, starting with his childhood, and his love for Capitu, the neighbour's daughther. In time, he marries her, and eventually comes to believe her unfaithful. Such a simple storyline doesn't hint at how good the book really is. Narrated in third person, the author nevertheless places the reader over the main character's shoulder, so that the reader can only see what the main character sees, and we have access only to that character's thoughts. Whatever he notices in Capitu to make him think her unfaithful is a mark of his own jealousy, and that is also the measure we are allowed to see; everything else the reader must fill in the blank spaces by him/herself. The author shows a very skillful hand; it is unavoidable to ask oneself if she really was unfaithful, and it is impossible to really know, of course. Fortunately, we can move well beyond that, and ask ourselves what type of character is that of the main actor in the drama, capable of such jealousy for someone who is, after all, known to him since his childhood. We all suffered from small insecurities in our lives, some of them real, some of them imaginary, and some of them we transcend, and we put behind us. The subtle description of episodes in the book constructs a mosaic of our own soul. Also of interest is the description of Brazilian society in the late 19th century; the characters are at the so called top of the social ladder, but the other characters which depend on them, and how they orbit the rich in a dependence relationship, are all there. Besides that, there's even more to be had if one looks at the situation of women in general as portrayed in the book. What makes it a great book, though, is what the author shows us about ourselves.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars espresso or macchiato?
One of the chapters is simply called "The Cup of Coffee"-- a dark, delicious page of a chapter that will probably lead you into the kitchen, wondering what sort of... Read more
Published on 26 Nov 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece of World Literature
Machado de Assis is probably one of the most underrated authors literature departments around the US-and other countries-have (not) encountered. Read more
Published on 29 Sep 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars A lifelong favorite
When I first read this book, back in 1987, I was about to marry the girl who had lived next door ever since I was 10. Read more
Published on 7 Jul 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Those who didn't rate it 5 stars don't desearve it !
This is a classic of world's litterature. It should be known by everyone that the author learned to write only because he was an appretice at a printing shop when he was only 14... Read more
Published on 2 Jul 1998

4.0 out of 5 stars So--was he a cuckold?
Forgive me for being a literary proletariat, but this novel leaves the reader with a vague sense of being cheated, if you'll pardon the pun. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 1997

5.0 out of 5 stars Dom Casmurro - art in paper
Dom Casmurro is simply a book that can be called by "really art". Machado de Assis uses all his culture and sense in a realistic history. Simply the best.
Published on 29 Oct 1997

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