Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒoaˈkĩ maˈɾiɐ maˈʃadu dʒi aˈsis]), often known as Machado de Assis, Machado, or Bruxo do Cosme Velho (June 21, 1839—September 29, 1908), was a Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short story writer. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature, but he did not gain widespread popularity outside Brazil in his own lifetime. He was multilingual, having learned French, English, German, and Greek later in life. Machado's works had a great influence on Brazilian literary schools of the late 19th century and early 20th century. José Saramago, Carlos Fuentes, Woody Allen and Susan Sontag are among his admirers, the American critic Harold Bloom calls him "the...