The Alienist

by Machado de Assis

Book Overview

A sarcastic criticism of the science of its day, O Alientista, considered a classic of Brazilian literature, tells the story of psychiatrist Sim?o Bacamarte, who convinces the town of Itagua? to pay... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 161219107X
• ISBN13: 9781612191072
• Release Date: August 2012
• Publisher: Melville House Publishing
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

120-year old satirical allegory with contemporary relevance

Many regard Machado de Assis as the greatest Brazilian writer of fiction, especially for his novels. Although he was writing in the late 19th Century and early years of the 20th, his works' stylistic and structural experimentation makes some of them, such as « Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas » ("Posthumous Memories of Bras Cubas," a/k/a "Epitaph of a Small Winner"), feel more like they were written in the 1960s or later. In the case of « O Alienista », on the other hand, style and structure seem very rooted in the 19th Century (the novella was first published in 1882). But it's the plot that has contemporary relevance. It concerns a learned doctor whose expandable concept of insanity leads him to lock up more and more of his town's populace in a private asylum, usually with the acquiescence of the town's people and government. Though obviously not the kind of story that literally could happen today, I was struck by how much it resonated with some very modern techniques for marginalizing political dissent and other forms of deviance. As in all of Machado's major writings, the author's dead-on satirical skills are always in evidence: there is black humor from start to finish. Though you might need a medium-sized dictionary for a couple of words, rather than a pocket one, in general the Portuguese is not so difficult -- no need to be 100% fluent before you give this a try.

Unlike Caleb Carr, this Alienist is literature!

Machado de Assis is one of the best know of Brasil's ample stable of fiction writers and certainly one of the most talented. This book is set in a fictional community where everyone needs the doctor's help for their mental illness....perhaps this was Saramago's inspiration for Blindness? This dystopia, however, is more cerebral than earthy, though its plague is just as debilitating. This man is a master of painting the character in a paragraph and it is a joy to observe in O Alienista!

Witty, ironic, and a very fresh read

Having read the Psychiatrist as an assignment for class (Latin American Humanities, Columbia University), I found the short story to be very fresh and engaging. The translation maintains Assis' wit, and though written over a century ago, the story is very accessible.

Funny, complex short story

The Psychiatrist (O Alienista) is a very good story. I think some of the reviewers are missing the point. "Who was really crazy? " That is the whole point of the story. That is the question the writer wants you to explore. He doesn't offer you any answers. Readers should just try to enjoy the amusing, smart way in which Machado de Assis address the complex issue of sanity. His witty observations about the society of the time (the book takes place in a small city Brazil at the end of the 19th century), their quirks, mediocrity, and grandiose ambitions make for a very good reading. The story was written more than a century ago, but it has not lost its freshness. My only concern is whether his poignant humor and beautiful prose style were lost in translation.

In portuguese, I sware that The Psychiatrist is hilarious!

I have read the Psychiatrist in portuguese about three times. In the first time I was only 12 years old, and I had no problems to understand it. And The Psychiatrist has just 55 pages(Brazilian Edition). The Psychiatrist is astonishing, one of the best stories I've read until now. Probably, the translation is not good enough because Machado has an extreme ironic stile, and I think it would not be easy to translate it to another language. I think this could be the only explanation to the slow rate gave to this book. Shakespeare in portuguese is not as good as in English. You also need to have in mind that the book was written in the XIX century, and at that time the human knowledge about psychiatry was quite different. In the beginning, to some persons, The Psychiatrist can look serious but it isn't. When You read this book, if you are in doubt if the writter is being ironic or not, forget your doubt, because Machado is ironic all the time. If you don't keep Machado's stile in mind you won't be able to understand the book. Please, forgive my bad English. ... .