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Hello.

He was, said the critic Harold Bloom, the greatest black writer in Western literature.

Although in his own country, he hasn't always been considered black at all.

Advocates of realist literature say his works are a perfect blend of realism and innovative techniques,

while devotees of the avant-garde say his work is an attack on realism.

Black or white, Republican or monarchist, pushing for the abolition of slavery or avoiding the subject,

it seems that the life and reputation of Machado de Aces is as difficult to pin down as the narrative style of one of his most famous creations,

the narrator who delivered the story of his life from beyond the grave.

The support of English-language luminaries like Susan Sontag and Selman Rushdie and Elizabeth Hardwick and Harold Bloom

have not been enough to make the name of Machado as familiar to us as Joyce and Kafka and Borhes.

But it is in their company that he belongs.

For as difficult as he is to define, greatness in literature is not defined by labels and categories,

but by the talent and humanity that shine through.

And in this, Machado's works emerge through the centuries as clever as stern, as incisive as swift,

and as important to Brazil as a pushkin as to Russia or Adante as to Italy.

We've been urged by our Brazilian listeners for years to dig into this man's life and works,

and finally we have Machado de Aces today on the history of literature.

Okay, here we go. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the podcast. How are you? I hope you're doing well.

We are headed into summer here where I am. The weather is warm and the days are long.

There's nothing quite like that moment. When you realize that the day is longer than you expected,

you never thought it possible that there would be this much light.

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