Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

Machado de Assis
Machado de Assis around age 56, c. 1896
1st Academic of the 23rd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
In office 28 January 1897 – 29 September 1908
Preceded by	Position created José de Alencar (patron)
Succeeded by	Lafayette Rodrigues Pereira
President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
In office 28 January 1897 – 29 September 1908
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Rui Barbosa
Personal details
Born	Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-06-21)21 June 1839 Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Died	29 September 1908(1908-09-29) (aged 69) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Spouse(s)	Carolina de Novais (1869–1904; her death)
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic
Period	1864–1908
Movement	Romanticism, Realism
Influences	See list Camões • Vieira • Mattos • José de Alencar • Almeida Garrett • Schopenhauer • Spinoza • Victor Hugo • Edgar Allan Poe • La Rochefoucauld • Goethe • Jonathan Swift • Laurence Sterne • Lucian of Samosata • Voltaire • Shakespeare • Dante Alighieri • Miguel de Cervantes
Influenced	See list John Barth • Carlos Drummond de Andrade • Cyro dos Anjos • Graciliano Ramos • Murilo Rubião • João Guimarães Rosa • Jorge Amado • Érico Verissimo • José Saramago • Rubem Braga • João Cabral de Melo Neto • Vinicius de Moraes • Mário de Andrade • Manuel Bandeira • Chico Buarque de Holanda • Jorge de Lima • Joaquim Nabuco • Gilberto Freire • Gustavo Corção
Other names	Machado, "The Warlock from Cosme Velho"
Signature

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Portuguese: [ʒwɐˈkĩ mɐˈɾi.ɐ mɐˈʃadu dʒi ɐˈsis]), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, Machado, or Bruxo do Cosme Velho (21 June 1839 – 29 September 1908), was a Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer. Widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature, nevertheless he did not gain widespread popularity outside Brazil in his own lifetime. He was multilingual, having taught himself French, English, German and Greek in later life.

Machado's works had a great influence on Brazilian literary schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1941, the Brazilian Academy of Letters founded in his honor the Prêmio Machado de Assis (Machado de Assis Prize), the most prestigious literary award in Brazil. José Saramago, Carlos Fuentes, Thomas McGuane and Susan Sontag are among his admirers, and Woody Allen has expressed enthusiasm for one of Machado's novels.

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was born on 21 June 1839 in Rio de Janeiro, then capital of the Empire of Brazil. His parents were Francisco José de Assis, a mulatto wall painter, the son of freed slaves, and Maria Leopoldina da Câmara Machado, an Azorean Portuguese washerwoman. He was born in Livramento country house, owned by Dona Maria José de Mendonça Barroso Pereira, widow of senator Bento Barroso Pereira, who protected his parents and allowed them to live with her.Dona Maria José became Joaquim's godmother; her brother-in-law, commendatory Joaquim Alberto de Sousa da Silveira, was his godfather, and both were paid homage by giving their names to the baby. Machado had a sister who died young. Joaquim studied in a public school, but was not a good student. While helping to serve masses, he met Father Silveira Sarmento, who became his Latin teacher and also a good friend.