Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, Machado, or Bruxo do Cosme Velho, was a pioneer Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer, widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature. In 1897, he founded and became the first President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He was multilingual, having taught himself French, English, German and Greek later in life.
Picture by Marc Ferrez, c. 1880
Morro do Livramento. The arrow in the top right corner shows the house where Machado was probably born and spent his childhood.
National Press, c. 1880, where Machado de Assis began his services as typographer and proofreader.
Machado de Assis when he was 25 years old, 1864.
Brazilian literature is the literature written in the Portuguese language by Brazilians or in Brazil, including works written prior to the country's independence in 1822. Throughout its early years, literature from Brazil followed the literary trends of Portugal, gradually shifting to a different and authentic writing style in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, in the search for truly Brazilian themes and use of Brazilian forms.
Colonial Brazil.
Academia Brasileira de Letras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
José de Alencar
Machado de Assis
