Machado de Assis (Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis) is considered the greatest writer of Brazilian Literature and he also often ranks among major world authors of the 19th century. Born in Rio in 1839,  he was a writer, novelist, playwright, poet and short-story teller who produced his work between 1869 and 1908. Machado wrote nine novels and more than 200 hundred stories. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, his art is “rooted in the traditions of European culture and transcends the influence of Brazilian literary schools”. He was also a polyglot who could speak Portuguese, Greek, French, German and English.

He started working when he was 17 as a printer’s apprentice and began to write in his free time. Soon he was publishing stories, poems, and novels. Although Machado de Assis began writing early and was widely acclaimed by the time he was 25 years old, it was not until a serious illness (epilepsy) and a long convalescence in the late 1870s that he developed his great insight into the human soul. One of Machado’s translator has said that ” the difficulty of translating him is capturing the right balance of distance, understanding and sympathy”. His most famous work “Dom Casmurro” is  a masterpiece of realistic literature, written as a memoir of a jealous and distrustful husband approaching the subject of  man’s inability to love.

Machado’s literary style has inspired many Brazilian writers. His works have been adapted to television, theater and cinema. Machado’s works had a great influence on Brazilian literary schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Brazilian Academy of Letters founded in his honor the Prêmio Machado de Assis (Machado de Assis Prize) which is the most prestigious literary award in Brazil. Many influent figures such as José Saramago, Thomas McGuane and Susan Sontag are among his admirers, and even Woody Allen has expressed enthusiasm for one of Machado’s novels.

Here is a list of all his works that are available in English:

1921 – Brazilian Tales

1952 – Epitaph of a Small Winner

1953 – Dom Casmurro

1954 – Philosopher or Dog? New York: Avon Books

1963 – The Psychiatrist

1965 – Esau and Jacob

1970 – The Hand & the Glove

1972 – Counselor Ayres’ Memorial

1976 – Yayá Garcia

1977 – The Devil’s Church and Other Stories

1984 – Helena

2008 – A Chapter of Hats and Other Stories

2012 – The Alienist

2013 – The Alienist and Other Stories of Nineteenth-century

2014 – Ex Cathedra: Stories by Machado de Assis

If you are interested in learning Portuguese, the Brazilian Government free ups all his collect works in this website.