Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria

(born June 21, 1839, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.—died Sept. 29, 1908, Rio de Janeiro) Brazilian poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Machado began to write in his spare time while working as a printer's apprentice. By 1869 he was a successful man of letters. His witty, pessimistic works, rooted in European cultural traditions, include the eccentric first-person narrative Epitaph of a Small Winner (1881) and the novels Philosopher or Dog? (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1899), the latter his masterpiece. Considered the classic master of Brazilian literature, he became the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1896.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica