The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

By Machado de Assis, Flora Thomson-DeVeaux and Dave Eggers

"One of the wittiest, most playful, and . . . most alive and ageless books ever written." --Dave Eggers, The New Yorker

A revelatory new translation of the playful, incomparable masterpiece of one of the greatest Black authors in the Americas

A Penguin Classic

The mixed-race grandson of ex-slaves, Machado de Assis is not only Brazil's most celebrated writer but also a writer of world stature, who has been championed by the likes of Philip Roth, Susan Sontag, Allen Ginsberg, John Updike, and Salman Rushdie. In his masterpiece, the 1881 novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas (translated also as Epitaph of a Small Winner), the ghost of a decadent and disagreeable aristocrat decides to write his memoir. He dedicates it to the worms gnawing at his corpse and tells of his failed romances and halfhearted political ambitions, serves up harebrained philosophies, and complains with gusto from the depths of his grave. Wildly imaginative, wickedly witty, and ahead of its time, the novel has been compared to the work of everyone from Cervantes to Sterne to Joyce to Nabokov to Borges to Calvino, and has influenced generations of writers around the world.

This new English translation is the first to include extensive notes providing crucial historical and cultural context. Unlike other editions, it also preserves Machado's original chapter breaks--each of the novel's 160 short chapters begins on a new page--and includes excerpts from previous versions of the novel never before published in English.

For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9780525506683

Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) is widely regarded as among the greatest Brazilian writers of all time. The grandson of freed slaves, he was born to a poor family in Rio de Janeiro and, with little formal education, took work as a typographer's apprentice and began to write and publish at age 15. Machado went on to a successful career as a government bureaucrat and writer of romantic fiction. From the late 1870s his style became more complex and ironic, and he went onto write the ground-breaking stories and novels that would permanently charge the course of Brazilian letters, among them Don Casmurro, The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas and 'The Alienist'.

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Reviews for The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

[lindoula-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books I've read all year! Some of the discussion of his love affairs did go on for a bit, but the style makes up for it. This book is a true gem.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A unique philosophical journey through the life of an undistinguished man from beyond the grave. The author is undistinguished only in the sense that his readers are as well. A delightful book that challenges the reader on every page.

[le.vert.galant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tremendous fun!

[magicians_nephew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All right fess up how many Brazilian novels have you read this year? And how many written over a century ago?

Our Book Club took a look at The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas and I'll bet you a cruzeiro you've never heard of it. But it sparked a deep and lively discussion.

A book written in 1881 narrated by a man in his coffin who had a rather checkered career among the minor nobility of Brazil in the previous century.

Being dead, he has no reason to lie to anybody and his memoir is full of choice observations about the people and the country he knew. Colonial Brazil at the dying edge of the Empire. Irony and sarcasm -- jokes and regret. A rich tapestry. The rich are very different from you and me, well no they're not.

Breaking the fourth (Coffin?) wall and alternately scolding and encouraging his readers in witty asides.

There is chapter written entirely in ellipses (... ... ...) Just keep going.

And now i discovery that this book from the dim dusty end of the library steppes has become a HUGE TikTok meme and point of discussion among the young 'uns. You can sort of see why -- Short pithy comments, loads of snark , loads of sarcasm -- its not a book it's a Blog!

[ffortsa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As usual, our fearless Reading Group leader came up with a book no one had heard of and was glad to read.

This sometimes satiric, sometimes hilarious novel is written by the title character from the grave - literally. He dedicates it to the worms that will eat his body. Its main preoccupation is Bras Cubas himself, an upper class, lazy, amoral gentleman in Rio de Janiero in the late 1800s, his life and loves, his acute perceptions of the society around him and the history of this very mixed race place. Some of the chapters are reasonably long - maybe 8 pages. Some are just one page. One is empty. The titles are signals, for instance, 'An Immoral Reflection', 'Sad, but Short', followed by 'Short, but Happy'. But Blas being dead, he has decided to tell it like it was, warts and and slavery and all. As a picture of a petty, scrupulous, self-absorbed society, it's terrific. (Look out for the hippopotamus in chapter VII.)

There are at least three translations out, one from the 1950s, two more recent. They are all good. The one I read had extensive footnotes from the author. Interestingly, the book was not well received in Brazil, at least in part because it is such a strange departure from the previous writing, the straight narrative romances that were so popular. But it has haunted many writers in English, and speaks as much to the 21st century as to its own.

[podocyte_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bras Cubas tells the story of his life from the grave.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story told by a man who takes a rather remote perspective on his family and friends. Lots of cynicism, lots of deadpan humor. It is sometimes difficult to figure out exactly what De Assis is trying to say and this borders on the poetic.

[gypsy_boy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wonder: is he as obsessed with aging and death as he appears to be? Reading this after Dom Casmurro makes me wonder. I read the translation by William Grossman made in the 1950s: the first translation of Machado de Assis into English. It takes a little getting used to and I’m not sure whether I would have preferred Jull Costa’s brand-new one. That said, I found the end a bit…deflating. I have to admit that the book--generally acknowledged as one of his masterpieces--fell a bit short for me. I enjoy reading him for his observations, especially on relationships between people, but the end just didn't impress me...sorta the same way I felt about Dom Casmurro. Not sure which of his works I will take on next, but I’m glad I have a number of books (not to mention his stories) still ahead of me. A distinctive voice, that’s for sure.

[rickgeissal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Delightful, strange book that I really liked. Written by a great 19th century Brazilian author, it purports to be written from the grave by a wealthy man who looks askance at his behavior while alive. It is interesting, insightful & delightful.

[riida_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

witty, funny, brisk, ingenious, and weirdly relatable. i did not quite like the main character's character. he's self-centered and strikes me as lazy and borderline delusional. but he feels like a very real person living in his times. the social commentaries on slavery and the morality of the privileged were almost subtle, but always striking. i think it deserves a more critical reading than i did.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Brazilian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was originally published in 1881, but its wit and style stands up well in today’s modern world. Machado de Assis is remarkable as an author as he produced poems, plays, stories, articles and novels and he is today considered Brazil’s greatest writer. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is an unusual yet fun story as the main character, Bras Cubas tells his life story from his grave. He dedicates his memoirs to the first worm to gnaw the cold flesh of his corpse.

The story unfolds with plenty of irony and caustic wit, after all he is a corpse with nothing to gain or lose from the telling. Bras Cubas was born wealthy and with high expectations, but success eluded him all his life. He never marries, and his biggest disappointment seemed to be that he didn’t leave any children behind. He tells his story over the course of 160 short chapters, revealing incidents from his life that gives the reader insight and knowledge of his character. At times he interrupts his story to make snide comments or observations directly to the reader about the human experience.

Although it felt rather experimental in nature, I quite enjoyed The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. The author provided an interesting, slightly odd story, anchored in the history of the day that both amused and educated me. This has the feeling of a timeless classic due to his fresh writing style and witty observations.

[albertgoldfain · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A clever way to tell a story, but I never really related to Bras Cubas. I am probably missing quite a bit in translation or by not unravelling the copious endnotes, but there just wasn't enough of a hook to make me go deeper here.

[hhornblower_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Such fun commentary on society that has many similarities to society today.

[colligan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent read, both humorous and insightful. A wonderful tale told in a style that is engaging, witty, and a pleasure to read.

[joseluist996 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best Latin American works of the 19th century, it showcases a great number of resources by Machado de Assis. The narration of a man's life from his grave allows for reflection on the great questions that philosophy has tried to address. The text, due to its composition, is quick to read and does not leave the reader unaffected. (Translated from Spanish)

[michaelm42071 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator, citing the advantages of such an arrangement (no fear of retribution for complete honesty, for instance), tells his story from beyond the grave, beginning just before his death, as he is distracted from thinking about his invention of marvelous poultice or plaster that cures depression, as his former mistress Virgilia comes to visit him. After his death and funeral (eleven people attending), he goes back to the beginning of his life and tells the story chronologically, in 160 chapters, some as short as one sentence (instructing the reader to insert that sentence in a previous chapter, or using the sentence to assert that he has written a completely superfluous chapter). The method he admits is adopted from Sterne and Xavier de Maistre, and the results are frequent digressions, a running commentary and address to the reader, a chapter composed only of punctuated straight lines, another of ellipses (or just dots), and another consisting solely of a five-line epitaph for the girl who died just before she was about to marry the narrator. He is less interesting for me than the other characters, including Lobo Neves the husband whom he is cuckolding, his brother-in-law Cotrim, and the garrulous, Panglossian and eventually mad Quincas Borbas, philosopher of “Humanitism,” which excuses the sort of behavior (by Lobo Neves, Cotrim, and the narrator himself) the book satirizes by saying whatever “human” is all right.
The narrator is a self-declared failure whose fiancée drops him for a more successful politician (Lobo Neves, who refuses a governorship because the grant was written on a date he considers unlucky), who never achieves his ambition of becoming a minister of state, who dies a bachelor after a series of humiliating or otherwise disastrous love affairs, and who shows himself incapable of getting beyond his selfishness at every point. His defense is a blanket condemnation of the world he milked for every pleasure it offered, as he congratulates himself for having no progeny to leave “the legacy of our misery.”
Machado lacks the playfulness of Sterne or de Maistre. He does do a job on the expectations of both romantic and realistic fiction, but perhaps only within a regional theatre. He can also claim to have a head start on magical realism. But his character’s autobiography is largely dreary.

[a_forester-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I admit I didn't like it at first, but when I read many many articles about it, I finally caught on to why it is good and delighted in reading it. Original, way ahead of its time, it seemed so current, so typical of modern humour that I didn't see what was special about it. What is special is that it was written in 1880 by a poor mulatto man in Brazil who was a shrewd observer of society. It is funny and understandable that he influenced Wood Allen, Philip Roth, Susan Sontag and a host of other creative people.

[schmechi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In Machado de Assis' berühmtesten Roman berichtet der Ich-Erzähler Brás Cubas aus dem Jenseits in 160 kurzen Kapiteln über sein Leben im Rio de Janeiro des 19. Jahrunderts. Es sind die Memoiren eines wohlhabenden Müßiggängers, der sein Leben lang Arbeit und Verantwortung scheute und so sein irdisches Dasein ohne große Widerstände und Höhepunkte verlebte.

Machado de Assis gilt aufgrund dieses Werks als Initiator des brasilianischen Realismus und prägende Gestalt der brasilianischen Literatur. Diese Huldigungen der Kritik kann ich nur teilweise nachvollziehen, denn zu viele Kapitel verwirren den Leser mit unstimmigen philosophischen Betrachtungen. Hinzu kommt, dass manche der zahlreich verwendeten Allegorien ebenso wie Verweise auf Literatur und Mytholgie reichlich plump wirken.

Einzelne Kapitel überzeugen hingegen mit pointiertem Witz, Weisheit und Beobachtungsgabe. Lesenswert ist der Roman letztlich auch aufgrund seiner Schilderungen Rio de Janeiros im 19. Jahrhundert.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a romp! Who new a posthumous memoir could be so wonderful? Our narrator, Bras Cubas, the dead one, finally makes his mark in the world by inventing the posthumous memoir. According to Susan Sontag, in the introduction, this occurs in counterpoint to "Tristram Shandy" speaking to his audience before birth. (I need to read that novel) Finally, Cubas can heave his eternal sigh of relief by achieving a worthy epitaph. His life was pretty typical, full of love, envy, profound delusions, a touch of intrigue, a variety of failures, petty maneuvering, and embarrassing moments. So what the heck, is it so much to ask for an eternal sigh of relief now and then? I think not!

[jimmychanga · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you stripped away the ahead-of-its-time narrative tics, the clever self-reflexive games, the subversive style, what you're left with is the heart of this book: the voice.

I was less impressed with the stylistic trickery (and enough has been said about that, just read the other Goodreads reviews) than with the voice: often boastful, he still allows you to see all his faults and weaknesses. And though you see all his faults and weaknesses, he still comes across as extremely likeable. Though he slyly mocks himself and those around him, he never comes across as having any kind of social or political agenda. The voice is believable despite being a multitude of things: delusional, prideful, petty, insightful, pitiful, philosophical, mocking, cynical, naive, weary, serious etc.

The story is basically one of impotence and mediocrity. Bras Cubas makes headway halfheartedly in all arenas of life, never fully achieving anything in the conventional sense that society deems as such. Though he was always at the brink of each of these accomplishments, he never acheives them: marriage, children, illustrious career. And we're better off for it, as readers, because we see that Bras Cubas really doesn't care for these societal expectations, much like this book doesn't care for fulfilling the narrative expectations of its readers.

The book mirrors this mindframe: it goes in a million different directions, imparting various observations along the way without any kind of central thrust. I don't mean this in a bad way; in fact, its aimlessness is one of the things I liked most about it. There's an openness to it where it doesn't feel too controlled, too one-minded, and this is refreshing.

On the negative side, it never feels completely satisfying either. There are moments of deep insight, and moments of humor, but a kind of constant withdrawal where it never reaches the heights of either. The wording was sometimes clunky too, but this could have been due to the translation. Also, the narrative devices he employs should be nothing new or shocking to a reader in the year 2011, though at the time I can see how it was. But since I'm reading it now and not in 1880, I felt a little annoyed that I was constantly expected to react to certain sections as if I were a maiden aunt (to borrow a phrasing from Manny) scandalized by its unconventional sexy form. To its credit, the cleverness is totally in line with the character's voice, so it didn't feel tacked-on, just slightly tacky in this day and age.

PS - the preface by Enylton de Sa Rego is complete rubbish. Skip it. I haven't finished reading the Afterword by Gilberto Pinheiro Passos, but so far it's kinda rubbish too.

[fpdc_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the great classics of 19th century literature. The memoirs of, Brás Cubas, a mediocre bougeois in late 1800's Rio de Janeiro, starts with the dedication of the deceased protagonist to the ``worm that first gnawed the cold flesh of my corpse'', and continues through one hundred and sixty short chapters written with a biting subtle irony.