Ten works, from the audacious memoirs of Brás Cubas to the haunting ambiguities of Dom Casmurro, bring Machado de Assis’s wit and psychological insight to readers in their original Portuguese.
New York, NY — October 16, 2026 — A dead man writes his memoirs. A jealous husband builds his case. Twin brothers turn disagreement into a lifelong calling. In Machado de Assis, storytelling is never innocent—and certainty is usually the first casualty. Carlini Classics presents ten works by the Brazilian master in their original Portuguese, inviting readers into a world of corrosive wit, psychological ambiguity, and brilliantly unreliable perspectives.
The collection includes Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, Dom Casmurro, Quincas Borba, Esaú e Jacó, O Alienista, Memorial de Aires, Helena, A Mão e a Luva, Yayá Garcia, and the short story collection Histórias sem Data. It forms part of Casa Carlini’s international original-language series, encompassing Spanish, Italian, Polish, Swedish, French, and Portuguese—a publishing initiative that brings readers closer to the rhythms, textures, and expressive possibilities of the languages in which great books were written.
Machado’s fiction unsettles as readily as it entertains. Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas turns autobiography upside down through a narrator speaking after death; Dom Casmurro draws readers into a marriage refracted through jealousy and suspicion; and Quincas Borba exposes the predatory calculations beneath wealth, friendship, and social ambition. Esaú e Jacó places sibling rivalry against Brazil’s political transformation, while Memorial de Aires approaches love, loneliness, and aging through a retired diplomat’s diary. The inclusion of Helena, A Mão e a Luva, Yayá Garcia, and Histórias sem Data broadens the collection beyond these celebrated works, inviting readers to explore more of Machado’s fiction across both novels and short stories.
“Machado makes readers question not only what a narrator says, but why we are so willing to believe it,” said Charles Carlini, founder of Casa Carlini. “Publishing these books in Portuguese honors the language in which his wit, intimacy, and ambiguity first took shape.”
The series covers were designed by Dana Smith, a graphic design student at St. Petersburg College. Rich, dark backgrounds, cream-colored typography, and fine gold accents establish a cohesive identity while giving each book a distinctive visual premise. In Esaú e Jacó, opposing, inverted portraits suggest division and resemblance; the spreading peacock in Quincas Borba evokes display and vanity. A shadowed green doorway gives O Alienista an atmosphere of confinement and uncertainty, while the layered figures of Dom Casmurro suggest desire filtered through another person’s gaze.
The collection invites Portuguese-speaking readers, language learners, and returning admirers to encounter Machado without the mediation of translation. These editions celebrate both the reach of his imagination and the particular language that gives his irony its precision.
About Carlini Classics
Carlini Classics publishes thoughtfully designed editions of essential literary works, bringing enduring voices into conversation with contemporary readers.
About Casa Carlini
Casa Carlini is a small, independent publishing house devoted to literature, philosophy, history, science, biography, and ideas.
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