Overview

Full Product Details

9781324095149

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""It is one of the unexpected services of Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson’s new translation of Dom Casmurro that they have helped me solve the mystery of my first impression. As I was reading their translation, I pulled out the first one I had read, one of the many that came before. I saw that the difficulty of translating Machado is not that his language is so precise and clear: That would seem to make the task easy. The challenge for the translator is that the writer uses precise and clear phrases (“Good morning!”) in a way that turns their precision and clarity against them and suggests something else. Rather than letting these lines stand, slyly winking and furtively smiling, the earlier translator had tried to nudge the reader too firmly toward that something else . . . More than perhaps any book I know, Dom Casmurro has to be read more than once. It teaches us to read in much the same way that Vermeer teaches us to see — by looking, and then looking again.”"" -- Benjamin Moser - New York Times Book Review ""A beguilingly slippery tale by Brazil’s greatest proto-modernist writer . . . In this readable translation . . . Machado proves himself a gifted portraitist of flawed human characters who harbor psychological depths."" -- Kirkus Reviews ""This fresh translation of Machado de Assis’ masterpiece by award-winners Costa and Patterson highlights the ambiguities in the great Brazilian writer’s original Portuguese text, amplifying themes of deception, uncertainty, and defiance . . . Calling out some diverse literary references while avoiding over-explanation, translators Costa and Patterson allow readers to draw their own conclusions. The resulting work reminds us just how delightfully enigmatic Machado de Assis can be."" -- Brendan Driscoll - Booklist"

"A beguilingly slippery tale by Brazil's greatest proto-modernist writer . . . In this readable translation . . . Machado proves himself a gifted portraitist of flawed human characters who harbor psychological depths.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" This fresh translation of Machado de Assis' masterpiece by award-winners Costa and Patterson highlights the ambiguities in the great Brazilian writer's original Portuguese text, amplifying themes of deception, uncertainty, and defiance . . . Calling out some diverse literary references while avoiding over-explanation, translators Costa and Patterson allow readers to draw their own conclusions. The resulting work reminds us just how delightfully enigmatic Machado de Assis can be.--Brendan Driscoll ""Booklist"" It is one of the unexpected services of Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson's new translation of Dom Casmurro that they have helped me solve the mystery of my first impression. As I was reading their translation, I pulled out the first one I had read, one of the many that came before. I saw that the difficulty of translating Machado is not that his language is so precise and clear: That would seem to make the task easy. The challenge for the translator is that the writer uses precise and clear phrases (""Good morning!"") in a way that turns their precision and clarity against them and suggests something else. Rather than letting these lines stand, slyly winking and furtively smiling, the earlier translator had tried to nudge the reader too firmly toward that something else . . . More than perhaps any book I know, Dom Casmurro has to be read more than once. It teaches us to read in much the same way that Vermeer teaches us to see -- by looking, and then looking again.""--Benjamin Moser ""New York Times Book Review"""

Author Information

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839–1908) was born in Rio de Janeiro and, as well as his seven short-story collections, wrote such groundbreaking novels as Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, Dom Casmurro, Quincas Borba and The Alienist. Margaret Jull Costa, who has translated Javier Marías and José Saramago, lives in England. Robin Patterson has translated José Luandino Vieira and lives in England.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available