Along with The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas and Dom Casmurro, Quincas Borba is one of Machado de Assis' major works and indeed one of the major works of nineteenth century fiction. With his uncannily postmodern sensibility, his delicious wit, and his keen insight into the political and social complexities of the Brazilian Empire, Machado opens a fascinating world to English speaking readers.
When the mad philosopher Quincas Borba dies, he leaves to his friend Rubiao the entirety of his wealth and property, with a single stipulation: Rubiao must take care of Quincas Borba's dog, who is...

Brazilians have traditionally and very accurately viewed their nation as the product of the coming together and subsequent interaction of its disparate racial ancestry: native American Indians, Portuguese settlers and African slaves. Examining the social and cultural implications of this racial diversity is essential to the search for a viable and cohesive national identity, which has long been a major concern of Brazil's writers. Originally published in 1983, Three Sad Races is a study of how Brazilian literature - the only national literature in the Americas comparable in both quantity and...