Brazilian Tales

by Isaac Goldberg (Editor, Translator), Machado de Assis, Medeiros e Albuquerque

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Genres: Short Stories, Ebooks, Classics, Brazil

ebook

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

1887-1938

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Aunt Zézé’s Tears,” a short story by Carmen Dolores:
http://biblioklept.org/2015/03/10/aun...

Translated from the Portuguese by Isaac Goldberg

Opening: Pale and thin, for eighteen years she had lived with her youngest sister, who had married very early and now possessed five children: two young ladies of marriageable age, a third still in short dresses, and two little boys.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found the selections by Machado de Assis pretty enjoyable, each of which contains an element of substantially developed irony, at times even brushing with existentialist absurdity; the other stories weren't horrible but didn't match the first three.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

CONTENTS:

Preliminary Remarks
Attendant's Confession - Machado de Assis
The Fortune-Teller - Machado de Assis
Life - Machado de Assis
The Vengeance of Felix - Jose Medeiros e Albuquerque
The Pigeons - Coelho Neto
Aunt Zeze's Tears - Carmem Dolores

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good part is, this book is free on amazon. The bad part, if you want to read Machado de Assis, is there are only 3 short stories in it. Also, nearly half of the book is taken up by an introduction to Brazilian Literature by editor Goldberg. Written in the 1920's, it is quite dated. While he does introduce us to some forgotten Brazilian writers from the past, there is probably a good reason they are forgotten.

The 3 stories by de Assis total about 70 pages, and read quickly. Well, except for the last one - which is a "dialog" between two characters from mythology. A popular form at the time de Assis was writing..... But, really, quite tedious to read today. One other story reminds you of "Epitaph", with a love triangle, and 2 best male friends.

Again, the good thing is, this is free as an ebook. But, there are better collections of his short stories out now which are worth the purchase. Don't be put off by this selection, his short work is as worth your time as his 3 best novels.

[Darren Cormier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short primer on Brazilian literature from 1920. I had purchased this book at a used book store in the late 1990's. (I can't remember the bookstore, but I think it was in Braintree or Quincy, MA. I had a long wait for a bus back to the subway after a job interview.) It sat on my shelf until recently.

Some of the stories were very good: the first two by Machado de Assis, the last by Carmen Dolores. The imagery of the Coelho Netto story was beautiful. Ultimately, it's too small of a collection, and not of a singular voice, to be recommended that highly.