Random House Publishing Group
Search
Expand Mobile Menu
The Looking-Glass

The Looking-Glass

Essential Stories

About the Book

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 showed the human comedy is the same everywhere, and in conflicts between man and society, society usually wins.”  --The New Yorker

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
    • Read more
    Close

    Essential Stories Series

    And the Earth Will Sit on the Moon
    The Siren’s Lament
    Where All Good Flappers Go
    Every Day is To-Day
    Nocturnal Apparitions
    The Looking-Glass
    Of Sunshine and Bedbugs
    A Bad Business
    I Would Prefer Not To
    Strange Bliss
    View more

    About the Author

    Machado De Assis
    More by Machado De Assis
    Decorative Carat

    About the Author

    Daniel Hahn
    Daniel Hahn is the author of several works of non-fiction, including the history book The Tower Menagerie. He is the editor of The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature and one of the editors of The Ultimate Book Guide, a series of reading guides for children and teenagers - the first volume of which won the Blue Peter Book Award. His translation of The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. He has also translated the work of José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, José Saramago, Eduardo Halfon, Gonçalo M. Tavares, and others. More by Daniel Hahn
    Decorative Carat

    By clicking submit, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime.

    Random House Publishing Group