ISBN Looking-Glass : Essential Stories book General novel English Paperback 240 pages

Machado de Assis is one of the most enigmatic and fascinating story writers who ever lived. What appear at first to be stately social satires reveal unanticipated depths through flashes of darkness and winking surrealism. This new selection of his finest work, translated by the prize-winning Daniel Hahn, showcases the many facets of his mercurial genius.

A brilliant scientist opens the first asylum in his home town, only to start finding signs of insanity all around him. A young lieutenant basks in praise, but in solitude feels his identity fray into nothing. The reading of a much-loved elder statesman's journals reveals hidden thoughts of merciless cruelty. This beautiful new collection of fresh translations offers the perfect gathering of his most beloved stories:The Fortune-TellerThe Posthumous Portrait GalleryThe LoanThe Tale of the CabrioletThe StickThe Secret CauseThe Canon, or Metaphysics of StyleThe AlienistThe Looking-GlassMidnight Mass