Machado de Assis

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Machado de Assis
Picture by Marc Ferrez, c. 1880
1st President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
In office 28 January 1897 – 29 September 1908
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Ruy Barbosa
Personal details
Born	Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-06-21)21 June 1839 Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Died	29 September 1908(1908-09-29) (aged 69) Rio de Janeiro, First Brazilian Republic
Spouse	Carolina Augusta Xavier de Novais ​ ​ (m. 1869; died 1904)​
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic
Period	1864–1908
Movement	Romanticism, Realism
Influences	See list Camões • Vieira • Mattos • Alencar • Almeida Garrett • Schopenhauer • Spinoza • Victor Hugo • Poe • La Rochefoucauld • Goethe • Swift • Sterne • Lucian of Samosata • Voltaire • Shakespeare • Dante • Cervantes
Influenced	See list John Barth • Carlos Drummond de Andrade • Cyro dos Anjos • Graciliano Ramos • Murilo Rubião • João Guimarães Rosa • Jorge Amado • Érico Verissimo • José Saramago • Rubem Braga • João Cabral de Melo Neto • Vinicius de Moraes • Mário de Andrade • Manuel Bandeira • Chico Buarque de Holanda • Jorge de Lima • Joaquim Nabuco • Plínio Salgado • Gilberto Freire • Gustavo Corção
Other names	Machado, "The Warlock from Cosme Velho"
Signature

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Portuguese: [ʒwɐˈkĩ maˈɾiɐ maˈʃadu d͡ʒ(i) aˈsis]), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, Machado, or Bruxo do Cosme Velho^[1] (21 June 1839 – 29 September 1908), was a pioneer Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer, widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature.^[2][3][4] In 1897, he founded and became the first President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He was multilingual, having taught himself French, English, German and Greek later in life.

Born in Morro do Livramento [pt], Rio de Janeiro, from a poor family, he was the grandson of freed slaves in a country where slavery would not be fully abolished until 49 years later. He barely studied in public schools and never attended university. With only his own intellect and autodidactism to rely on, he struggled to rise socially. To do so, he took several public positions, passing through the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Public Works, and achieving early fame in newspapers where he first published his poetry and chronicles.

Machado's work shaped the realist movement in Brazil. He became known for his wit and his eye-opening critiques of society. Generally considered to be Machado's greatest works are Dom Casmurro (1899), Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas ("Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas", also translated as Epitaph of a Small Winner) and Quincas Borba (also known in English as Philosopher or Dog?). In 1893, he published "A Missa do Galo" ("Midnight Mass"), often considered to be the greatest short story in Brazilian literature.^[5]