About this episode

The episode discusses the life and works of Brazilian author Machado de Assis, exploring his impact on literature and society.

Misha Glenny and guests discuss one of the towering figures of Brazilian and world literature, Machado de Assis (1839 - 1908). He was the descendant of slaves and built his career while slavery was still in place in Brazil (abolished 1888) and many of his characters were from the slave-owning class who were also the readers of his books. At the time, those readers were delighted to see themselves represented and it was only later in the 20th Century that critics realized just how much Machado was satirising them. While he brings 19th Century Brazil vividly to life, Machado's works transcend time and place and, according to Salman Rushdie, they seem to have been written yesterday not 100 years ago. With Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva Associate Professor in Brazilian Studies at University College London Claire Williams Professor of Brazilian Literature and Culture at the Faculty of Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, fellow of St. Peter's College And Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list: Lamonte Aidoo and Daniel F. Silva…

People in this episode

Host: Misha Glenny

Guests: Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva, Claire Williams, Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação

Topics covered

• Brazilian literature
• Machado de Assis
• slavery in Brazil
• literary satire
• 19th Century Brazil

Keywords

• Machado de Assis
• Brazilian literature
• slavery
• literary satire
• 19th Century

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University College London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge

Books & works: Emerging Dialogues on Machado de Assis, The Brazilian Othello of Machado de Assis: A Study of Dom Casmurro, The Contradictions of Science in Machado de Assis

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