This book offers an alternative explanation for one of the core dilemmas of Brazilian literary criticism: the "midlife crisis" Machado de Assis underwent from 1878 to 1880, the result of which was the writing of The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, as well as the remarkable production of his mature years--with an emphasis on his masterpiece, Dom Casmurro.

João Cezar de Castro Rocha is Professor of Comparative Literature at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. He is the Endowed Chair Machado de Assis of Latin American Studies (Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana / Brazilian Embassy, Mexico, 2010), and he has edited more than twenty books, among which are a collection of six volumes of Machado de Assis's short stories.