EPITAPH OF A SMALL WINNER: A Novel (FSG Classics)

Description

In these memoirs, Braz Cubas, a wealthy nineteenth-century Brazilian, examines (from beyond the grave) his rather undistinguished life in 160 short chapters that are filled with philosophical digressions and exuberant insights. A clear forerunner of Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges, Epitaph for a Small Winner, first published in 1880, is one of the wittiest self-portraits in literary history as well as "one of the masterpieces of Brazilian literature" (Salman Rushdie). Review: "I wrote it with the pen of Mirth and the ink of Melancholy" - The author of this work narrates his autobiography from beyond the grave. A middle class man who achieves very little, Braz Cubas takes us from childhood through youth, love affairs and career, punctuating events with little philosophical asides. As he moves through life he gains insights into humanity, though is still making faux pas until the end. He observes: "Man is a thinking erratum. Each period in life is a new edition that corrects the preceding one and that in turn will be corrected by the next, until publication of the definitive edition, which the publisher donates to the worms." Written in (very) short chapters, the reader feels he is being addressed directly by Cubas, who punctuates the work with little comments. One chapter on a failure is just a few lines of asterisks: the next, "Which Explains the Preceding Chapter" says that "Some things are better said without words." I really enjoyed it. Review: Returned it - Paper quality is so awful that I could barely read a single page. Didn’t expect this from such a costly book. Hugely disappointed.