Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis Biography

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, Rio de Janeiro—September 29, 1908, Rio de Janeiro), was a Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright, short story writer and liberal monarchist. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature. However, he did not gain widespread popularity outside Brazil in his own lifetime.

Machado's works had a great influence on Brazilian literary schools of the late 19th century and 20th century. José Saramago, Carlos Fuentes, Susan Sontag and Harold Bloom are among his admirers and Bloom calls him "the supreme black literary artist to date.