Like Balzac's Human Comedy, Machado de Assis's major novels provide readers with a social physiognomy-a map of surface phenomena that indicate deeper cultural meaning....This fresh translation, sponsored by the Library of Latin America, will hopefully attract new readers to one of the great 19th-century novelists.-Publisher's Weekly
A fascinating 1904 novel, the last of the Brazilian master's (1839-1908) four acknowledged masterpieces....It's an overtly allegorical tale, set in Rio de Janeiro and environs near the end of the 19th century and at the time when Brazil's monarchy is being displaced by a republican government....Machado encapsulates his country's conflicted momentum toward modernity....Oxford's Library series now has all of Machado's major fiction available in authoritative new translations. All hail this bounty, and grateful thanks for it.-Kirkus Reviews
In superbly funny books, [Machado] described the abnormalities of alienation, perversion, domination, cruelty and madness. He deconstructed empire with a thoroughness and an esthetic equilibrium that place him in a class by himself.-K. David Jackson, The New York Times Book Review
Machado de Assis is Brazil's greatest novelist, and ranks high among the most appealing writers in the world.... Though he lived mainly in the 19th century, Machado possesses an almost postmodern sensibility-playful, ironic and tricky.-Washington Post Book World
