74 pages • 2 hours read
Dom Casmurro
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Background
Authorial Context: Machado de Assis
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. Beyond Brazil, his novels have found a growing international readership, with prominent critics like Harold Bloom and Susan Sontag praising his work.
Historical Context: 19th-Century Brazil
The 19th century in Brazil was a period of significant socio-political transformations. After gaining independence from Portugal in 1822, Brazil entered its imperial era. Over more than six decades, the monarchy grappled with both national and foreign pressures before the nation became a republic in 1889. Despite Brazil being the last remaining country in the Western hemisphere to uphold slavery, the monarchy and the elite were deeply vested in keeping the institution, which was only abolished in 1888.
Dom Casmurro (1899) is set after the fall of the Brazilian monarchy and the abolition of slavery. The narrator, a member of the former elite, embodies a sense of nostalgia about the past. His yearning is both subjective, entangled with his childhood love affair with Capitú, and related to the broader historical milieu. In his home, he displays depictions of emperors, poignant reminders of the past grandeur he cherishes. Dom Casmurro intricately weaves historical context into its narrative to encapsulate the palpable tension between past and present in 19th- century Brazil, offering a rich portrayal of the social and historical context of the time.
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By Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
