Dom Casmurro: A Novel

A stunning novel by one of Brazil's greatest writers. Like other great 19th-century novels, Machado de Assis's DOM CASMURRO explores the themes of marriage and adultery. But what distinguishes Machado's novel from the realism of its contemporaries, and what makes it such a delightful discovery for English-speaking readers, is its eccentric and wildly unpredictable narrative style--a literary genius of the rarest kind.

The unreliable narrator and the fictional memoir are long-standing literary traditions. Nineteenth-century Brazilian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis uses both to brilliant effect in his novel Dom Casmurro. Narrated by Bento Santiago, this memoir looks back over a life filled with the suspicion of betrayal: Bento is convinced that his wife had an affair with his best friend, and that his son was the result of it. Though he has no real evidence to support this belief, Bento becomes so obsessed with it that, in the end, he commits crimes far worse than the suspected adultery to avenge himself. The memoir itself is a kind of justification for his actions; Bento, now alone, recreates the environment of his childhood and attempts to rewrite the facts of his life--in essence, reconstructing the past.

Among readers familiar with Latin American literature, Machado is considered a master. His novels blend black comedy with deadly accurate social commentary and an unerring perception of human psychology to create works that are brilliant, complex without being opaque, and joys to read. The Oxford University Press edition is ably translated by John Gledson and accompanied by critical essays that will help orient readers unfamiliar with Machado's work.

This classic Brazilian novel, written by Machado de Assis and first published in 1899, is available in the U.S. in a new edition published last year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. In this first-person narrative, an elderly Bento Santiago reminisces about his happy childhood, including his devoted mother and his enduring love for his childhood sweetheart, Capitú. Over time, Bento's adolescent happiness matures into a complicated adult life, rife with drama and tragedy.

As Bento progresses through his life story, his easygoing and often humorous voice adopts a deceptively light tone. This misleading lightness masks a much darker story, one of a man regretful of destroying his happiness with his own crippling jealousy. Not only is Bento the master of his own tragedy, but he also revels in telling the story to us, complete with dramatic flourishes and strategic asides. With strong parallels to Shakespeare's Othello, Dom Casmurro is a classic story of love won and then lost. Although over a century old, this fresh and modern story remains as relevant today as when it was first written.

Dom Casmurro is a timeless brazilian classic. In this book Machado captures the brazilian atmosphere at the time, and introduces a unique view of middle class love and conflicts, in a society dominated by rules and etiquette.

This particular portuguese edition follows the most widely accepted revision, used as textbooks in brazilian schools. Wonderful book, and a very good edition.

All in all I thought this was an excellent novel. The first three quarters are an idyllic story of a boy's first love in late 19th century Brazil. The last part is how the marriage fell apart due to suspicions of adultery.

In regards to the debate on whether Capitu cheated, I must say that at first I was unsure also. The thing that swayed me into thinking that yes, she did cheat, was the part where Bentinho's mother was indifferent to his child. If you remember, Bentinho was confused by this since the child was her only grandson. I think she was indifferent because something led her to intuit that the child was not her son's. (Thus his mother knew Capitu was unfaithful long before he did. She never told him, but she knew). Add to this the circumstantial evidence that Bentinho pieced together on his own, and I have to say that in the end, he got it right. Capitu cheated on him.

Every Brazilian knows that Machado de Assis is among the top 5 writers in the world and now the world will discover the genius of this Brazilian who is already for us a universal genius! He is even better than Flaubert and Zola and we recommend all his books!

Luiz

After a slow start and a rather meek continuation, the last third of the book is dazzling, with jealousy running amok: 'wishing to know what might be in my wife's head'.

A woman promises God that if she has a son, he will become a priest. But the adolescent has absolutely no call to become a padre. On the contrary, he falls in love with a beauty.

In order to escape from the holy vow, the Church agrees in a most jesuitic way that if a substitute is found, the promise will be fulfilled.

The subsequent marriage turns out not to be the paradise hoped for.

This book contains some mild criticism of the Church with its paternosters and Ave Marias as penances for committed sins. The pact with God is treated as a commercial note: 'The Creditor (God) was a multimillionnaire; He was not dependent upon payment in order to eat, and consented to postponements without even increasing the rate of interest.'

'Jehovah is a Rothschild, only much more human: he does not make moratoriums, he pardons the debt in full, provided the debtor truly wished to mend his ways'.

The sex is also very innocent ('silk garters') compared to today's eccentricities.

The confession of the main character is not without some acrid self-mockery: 'The Church has established in the confessional the most authorative of legal services and in confession the most trustworthy of instruments for the adjustment of moral accounts between man and God. But my incorrigible timidity closed this sure door to me. How a man changes! Today I go so far as to publish it.'

The overall picture of Brazil at the end of the 19th century is appalling: poverty, leprosy, slavery, the all importance of the catholic Church. But for the author, this state of affairs is in no way exceptional.

This book is a worth-while read.