The Brazilian Othelo of Machado de Assis (review of a Brazilian book)

Hellen Caldwell once wrote, in Folha de São Paulo, English people should be envious about the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis for his ability in creating a Brazilian Othelo in his masterpiece Dom Casmurro. The masterpiece deals with the fragile relationship between two friends – Bentinho and Escobar - on a love triangle (Bentinho-Capitu-Escobar).

Why should you, Portuguese learners, read this masterpiece? Let us analyse this question referring to the importance of it in Brazilian Literature.

Despite the fact Dom Casmurro belongs to Brazilian Realism, it is a very up to date book and, I believe, it is equivalent to Shakespeare for English people.

The unreliable narrator and the fictional memoir are long-standing[1] literary traditions. Narrated by Bentinho, this memoir looks back over a life filled with the suspicion of betrayal: Bentinho is convinced that his wife had an affair with his best friend, and that his son was the result of it. Though, he has no real evidence to support this belief, Bentinho becomes so obsessed with it that, in the end, he commits crimes far worse than the suspected adultery to avenge himself. The memoir itself is a kind of justification for his actions; Bento, now alone, recreates the environment of his childhood and attempts to rewrite the facts of his life - in essence, reconstructing the past.
The Brazilian book dialogues with the English Othelo’s Shakespeare, that is, Bentinho involves in similar situations to the ones portrayed in Othelo. For instance, there is one in which Bentinho is watching Shakespeare’s play in the cinema. As you can see, the plot itself evokes Shakespeare.

I think this is surely the best option for you, Portuguese learners who’ve reached a high standard, but are not totally fluently. Maybe you are going to find the language a little bit unusual nowadays, but Ática has published, this year, an abridged version, which makes it easier for reading.

There are some successful Brazilian books abroad, such as the ones written by Paulo Coelho, but I would not refer to them. I would rather you read Dom Casmurro, and check yourself why this is a must read.

360 words

[1] that has existed or lasted for a long time.