ESAU AND JACOB
by Joaquim Machado de Assis & translated by Elizabeth Lowe & edited by Dain Borges & Carlos Felipe Moises
A fascinating 1904 novel, the last of the Brazilian master’s (1839–1908) four acknowledged masterpieces (the greatest of which is probably his Dom Casmurro). It’s an overtly allegorical tale, set in Rio de Janeiro and environs near the end of the 19th century and at the time when Brazil’s monarchy is being displaced by a republican government. The major characters are feuding twin brothers, (conservative royalist) Pedro and (liberal revolutionary) Paulo Santos. Machado encapsulates his country’s conflicted momentum toward modernity in the twins’ contention for beautiful Flora Batista (a Beatrice, as several Dantean allusions suggest): the “prize” who is destroyed by the ordeal of choosing between them. Oxford’s Library series now has all of Machado’s major fiction available in authoritative new translations. All hail this bounty, and grateful thanks for it.