Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was a renowned Brazilian author who pioneered literary realism in his home country and left a lasting impact on its canon. Born into a working-class background and lacking formal education, Machado was largely self-taught. He developed a prolific career as a writer, producing over 600 chronicles, numerous short stories, poems, and plays. Apart from his fictional writing, he also worked in journalism and joined the civil service, for which he received monarch-granted distinctions.

Although it is challenging to place Machado’s experimental style within specific literary movements, his work is typically divided into two phases that separate early romantic influences from a later shift towards realism. In his early works his characters lacked psychological depth and often adhered to simplistic good versus evil dichotomies. During his second phase, Machado perfected his prose and produced his most well-known novels. Drawing on European influences, he pioneered modernism and psychological insight in Brazilian literature, with a refined yet accessible prose. Dom Casmurro belongs to the second phase of his career and is considered one of his best novels.

Besides helping found the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Machado’s enduring relevance is evident in the widespread adaptations of his works and his ubiquitous presence in Brazilian school curriculums to this day.