Let us talk about sanity and insanity for a while:How do you differentiate sanity and insanity? If you were sane before, how would you know that you have started to become insane? Is there a sign or system to detect the change? If I am sane, and I discover that I am losing my sanity, should I run for a cure or should I become a spectator and witness my insanity engulfing everything that is left sane within? Ok, leave that. If I, with my personal intuition, find that a person I know is turning insane, I should try to help him/her, right? I should try and make that person “normal”. Yes, I should help. Or does that person really need help? Who am I to judge and decide? After all, he/she is more visibly happy than his/her former “sane self”. Ok, leave that. To quote Machado de Assis, all these are nothing but “questions impregnated with questions”. Let’s move forward. Let’s talk about Machado de Assis for a while:After reading Dom Casmurro and Devil’s Church and Other Stories, I immediately picked up Quincas Borba. Usually, I do not read an author’s works consequently, but De Assis left me with no choice. It is very unfortunate that his creative talent is almost unrecognized outside Brazil. His prose is filled with irony, satire, wit and wisdom. At times, I found myself laughing out loud and at times, my eyes were moist with tears. At times, he reminded me of Hamsun and at times, of Proust. This does not mean that he lacks originality but quite the contrary. His mastery lies in the simplicity of his prose which evokes complexity. It amuses the heart and at the same time demands the mind to ponder. So, dear reader (as De Assis addresses), please read his works if you haven’t already. Who knows, you might end up discovering a new favorite author for yourself. When you read his novel, you would discover a web being created around you. Machado de Assis creates this web without your consciousness and permission. This is the web of his characters, their thoughts, your thoughts, their happiness, your sorrows; all merging into one. As you would turn the final page of his novel, the web would mercilessly spit you out into your own reality. You would then discover, dear reader, that an unfamiliar part of you has been left behind in the web. Whose web? Assis’s web? Your web? Who knows! Let's move forward.Let’s talk about Quincas Borba for a while :As you might have already guessed, this book deals with sanity, insanity and everything in between. This story starts with Quincas Borba, an old philosopher(who might be insane) and his dog who is named after him. After his death, the old philosopher leaves his wealth and dog for Rubiao, a poor ex-teacher who took care of the philosopher in his final days. Rubiao constructs a vague belief that Quinca Borba-the philosopher’s soul might have taken shelter in Quincas Borba-the dog’s body. But that is another story.Now, Rubiao is rich. With wealth, come friends. In no time, his social circle increases in circumference. He gets introduced to Palha and his wife, Dona Sophia. Sophia, being attractive and graceful, instantly captures Rubiao’s heart. At first, he consoles himself that it would be highly immoral to expect anything minutely similar to his feelings in return. But love, as love, is supposed to be love, Rubiao declares his love to Sophia(who later falls in love with Carlos Maria). She declines. And thus, our poor Rubiao’s plight begins. What happens to him, his love and his dog? I would leave that for the future reader to discover.Along with the already mentioned characters, this novel includes some other vital characters who live their lives in parallel to Rubiao’s. Most of these are shades of grey, instead of being just black or white. And maybe, this is what makes them seem real; almost familiar. My two most favorite characters were Quincas Borba-the dog and Quincas Borba-the philosopher; in the same order. Though these two characters just fill a mere couple of pages of the novel, they act as a foundation for rest of the story. Their presence is felt throughout. Along with Rubiao’s, it is the shadows of these two which haunt the reader afterwards.Let’s move forward.Some after-thoughts which will take only a while:The conclusion of this story leaves the reader with some unanswered questions. One of them would be: "This novel got its title from the dog or the philosopher?" Hard to tell. Like mentioned before, there is a lot of merging and faint lines the reader has to deal with.Let’s move forward.Like Carlos Maria, some of us choose to remain sane all our lives. Like Sophia, some of us choose insanity over sanity. Like Rubiao, some of us naturally turn insane. Whose life and fate is better than the rest? Who is more happy and content than the rest? Who knows!Let’s move forward.I must confess, the last page of my copy has a stain of my tears that were shed while reading the final lines. I turned the back cover of the book into its initial position and closed my eyes to muse over the prose. A faint image of 'Quincas Borba-the dog' appeared in front of my eyes. His image became stronger and clear as he wagged his tail and demanded affection. I imagined myself jumping and hopping with him. We ran after one another, later cuddled to sleep and dreamt about Rubiao and 'Quincas Borba-the philosopher', whom we loved dearly. I hoped it made him happy. I soon discovered that, I too had left an unfamiliar part of me in the web that was around me a few moments ago. My web? Assis’s web? Who knows! And I wouldn’t want to know.Let’s move forward.
O cão e o dono. Rubião, amigo do rico e excêntrico filósofo Quincas Borba, herda a sua fortuna na simples condição de cuidar do cão do defunto, Quincas Borba. Rico e sem saber o que fazer do dinheiro, conhece Cristiano Palha, um capitalista, assim como a mulher Sofia, que de certa forma o acolhem como amigo e lhe dão a conhecer um tipo de vida pouco familiar para ele.Pródigo, Rubião esbanja a fortuna em presentes e maus investimentos, ao mesmo tempo que se apaixona até à loucura por Sofia. A partir deste ponto Rubião atravessa uma espiral no sentido descendente do seu estado mental, que o leva à loucura. A narrativa consegue transmitir, através do olhar dos amigos de Rubião (e não só), uma crescente demência que o transforma em Napoleão III, retratando Rubião duma maneira algo colorida.O prato forte da obra centra-se no retrato das relações sociais duma época a que Machado de Assis está bem atento. Rubião apaixona-se por Sofia, que nada sente por ele. Por si só, Rubião inventa uma paixão que o leva à loucura, ignorando uma pretensa ideia de casar com alguém e levar uma vida matrimonial comum. A sua imaginação cria ciúmes dum Carlos Maria que, seriamente, casa com Maria Benedita, prima de Sofia. Com o mundo à sua volta a tornar-se cada vez mais "normal", Rubião despreza a casa, o cão, distribui promoções ao major, ministérios ao político Camacho e títulos ao Palha.Ao mesmo tempo que Napoleão III emigra, derrotado, para Inglaterra, a sua alma de imperador transfere-se para Rubião que, alienado na sua vida como o imperador do seu império, reflete metaforicamente a realidade sombria de duas personagens perdidas na História. Nem os conselhos de Quincas Borbas cão o salvam.Machado de Assis trata a língua portuguesa com bastante inovação, à época. Senti, contudo, que não consegui tirar o melhor partido da qualidade da obra, pelo que conto reler esta ou outra do mesmo autor, para melhor saborear a sua qualidade.
Do You like book Quincas Borba (1999)?
This is a peculiar book. The title is very misleading. Without any spoilers I can confidently state the answer to the question is "dog". There is never, ever, any indication that the dead philosopher - Quincas Borbas - has transfered himself into his dog of the same name. Why it was titled this way is a mystery.Instead what we have is a comedy of manners told in a very post-modern style before post-modern was invented. The story is amicable enough, although it never really attains much depth. Whenever depth seems to rear it's head the author moves it aside. The delight is in the lightness and immediacy of the prose, the direct references to the reader, the brevity of the chapters, and the refreshnig and engaging way in which the story is told. I enjoyed the read.
—Andrew
I started to read this book with very low espectations. I'd already read some books from Machado de Assis and I know how good he is, but this particular book hadn't seem that great. Until I started reading it.I was lazy and was getting my time to start, thinking how boring it would be. Then Quincas Borba and his ideas came. (view spoiler)[ And when he died and I thought it would became boring, there was Palha and Sofia. (hide spoiler)]
—Annelise L'Estrange
Um mergulho em seu estilo, o livro apresenta um talentoso porém menos inspirado Machado de Assis.De enredo entrelaçado com sua obra máxima "Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas", é uma tentativa de retratar as relações sociais frente às doenças psíquicas, apontando nossa incompetência em identificar seus sintomas - as outras personagens viam as excentricidades do protagonista como lisonjas "merecidas" ou apenas oportunidades de bons negócios - e nossa incapacidade em lidar com o doente, onde ninguém consegue abstrair o presente estorvo frente ao passado de generosidade e até heroísmo - afinal, só os loucos conseguem ser suficientemente ingênuos para os atos de bravura.Ainda que em estilo inovativo para seu tempo, o livro é um retrocesso frente ao apresentado em sua obra anterior, tendo paralelismos de enredo que se justificam apenas como embromação. Nesse ponto, parece que o cozinheiro perdeu a receita e não quer arriscar em perder a mão, então vai no arroz com feijão.
—Al
