Review: 'The Looking Glass: Essential Stories' by Machado de Assis, trans. by Daniel Hahn
Pub. Date: 13/12/2022
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Enchanting, fresh translations of the finest stories by Brazil’s greatest writer and author of short stories, cited as the greatest black writer in Western literature
Machado de Assis is one of the most enigmatic and fascinating story writers who ever lived. What appear at first to be stately social satires reveal unanticipated depths through flashes of darkness and winking surrealism. This new selection of his finest work, translated by the prize-winning Daniel Hahn, showcases the many facets of his mercurial genius.
A brilliant scientist opens the first asylum in his home town, only to start finding signs of insanity all around him. A young lieutenant basks in praise, but in solitude feels his identity fray into nothing. The reading of a much-loved elder statesman's journals reveals hidden thoughts of merciless cruelty.
This beautiful new collection of fresh translations offers the perfect gathering of his most beloved stories:The Fortune-Teller The Posthumous Portrait Gallery The Loan The Tale of the Cabriolet The Stick The Secret Cause The Canon, or Metaphysics of Style The Alienist The Looking-Glass Midnight Mass
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was a Brazilian author, who wrote in Portuguese, and lives from 1839 to 1908. The grandsons of freed slaves, he grew up poor in Rio de Janeiro and never attended university. He worked his way through various, journalism-related jobs and public positions before finding success with his writing, switching from plays to fiction. While he continued to work governmental jobs, he also began publishing his novels and short stories. What I found intriguing about reading up on him was that as a Black man married to a white woman and the grandson of freed slaves, he apparently largely stayed away from addressing political topics and themes in his writing. I am one of those people who considers everything to be political and I think issues such as race, slavery, class, etc. nonetheless come through in the stories contained in The Looking-Glass, even if they're not addressed directly. Apparently this changed somewhat when Brazil became a republic in 1899 and it is also after this that he wrote the novels considered his masterpieces and major works of Brazilian literature, especially Quincas Borba and Dom Casmurro. After reading his short stories here, I am definitely eager to give them a try soon!
The collection The Looking-Glass contains ten stories from de Assis and as with every collection, not every story will be an equal hit with everyone. However, I found myself actually really enjoying almost all of them. It starts with 'The Fortune Teller', where a torrid love affair meets a torrid end. This story was delightfully dark and felt very tongue-in-cheek. 'The Posthumous Portrait Gallery' is next and here Machado de Assis' wit really comes through. After the death of a respected man, his nephew finds his journal which contains all his brutally honest thoughts about the people he has met. 'The Loan' sees a spendthrift attempt to get money from a friend, while 'The Tale of the Cabriolet' sees a curious canon dig into the tragic lives of two recently deceased visitors to his town. 'The Stick' is a really intriguing story and shows how, despite all the fun and wittiness, de Assis is addressing something about human nature. A young boy runs away from the seminary and looking for help, but then finds himself tested when he in turn might have a chance to help someone. 'The Secret Cause' might be a little much for some readers, as it contains graphic depictions of animal abuse, but it is a fascinating insight into a deeply odd mind. 'The Canon, or Metaphysics in Style' is probably one of my favourite stories in the entire collection. While a canon is attempting to write a sermon, de Assis takes us by the hand in a whirlwind journey to find the right adjective for a noun. It is a story that somehow feels both highly modern, yet also very magical realist and somehow a little surrealist. 'The Alienist' is another great story, about a doctor deciding to create a madhouse and going slightly above and beyond in his search for the true nature of madness. 'The Looking-Glass' gives the collection its name and its frame narrative is what really intrigued me. It begins with a conversation between meta-physicists about the soul, which is interrupted when a man insists we truly have two souls, an internal and external one. As proof, he relays his experiences in his own youth when, as an ensign, he became dependent upon a looking-glass to know himself. Finally, there is 'Midnight Mass', a very quiet story about a midnight conversation between a young man and a woman. This latter one is apparently considered one of the greatest stories of Brazilian literature and I did find it very touching.
Since I was new to Machado de Assis and had no real conception of when he wrote, I went into The Looking-Glass completely blind. I remembered that it was written in Portuguese, but I had no notion of what his style might be like. Purely from a style perspective, I was amazed that these stories came from the mid to late 1800s. Now, I'm a medievalist, so I'm not surprised that texts that are old are good. Where my amazement came from is that something about Machado de Assis' style feels incredibly modern. Perhaps it is the cynicism that comes through, or the way magical realism seems to be present here almost a century before it became an actual thing. Machado de Assis somehow finds a way of giving realistic settings and people and situations, reflecting (I think) Brazil in the 19th century pretty well, and yet there is a romantic or inventive twist to how he writes it that feels un-realist. There is also the fact that he addresses the reader directly and leaves many of his endings quite open. Reading these stories, it felt like Machado de Assis and I were in conversation about humanity, about both our hypocrisies and the beauty we are capable of. I really want to continue that conversation by reading more of his work.
Daniel Hahn explains in an afterword that he attempted to retain a 19th-century style in his translation, which could perhaps feels a little antiquated to some readers. I thought this worked really well, especially as it also retains the aged feel of the text. Considering how modern and fresh some of Machado de Assis' writing feels, having this contrasted with the style is a really good way of highlighting his achievements as an author.
I give this collection...
5 Universes!
The Looking-Glass: Essential Stories won't necessarily be for everyone. There is a cynicism and a harshness to some of the stories, but there is also real wit and beauty. Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend it to those with an interest in magical realism and literature from South-America.
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