The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma

Description

A deftly satirical masterpiece about a man and a country caught in a violent clash between sanity and madness

Policarpo Quaresma—fastidious civil servant, dedicated patriot, self-styled visionary—is a defender of all things Brazilian, full of schemes to improve his beloved homeland. Yet somehow each of his ventures results in ridicule and disaster. Quixotic and hapless, Quaresma’s dreams will eventually be his undoing.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.AFONSO HENRIQUES DE LIMA BARRETO was a Brazilian novelist and short story writer. The son of first- and second-generation freed slaves, he was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1881, in the tumultuous decade that saw the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the formation of the First Republic. He worked as a civil servant and journalist, both of which provided him with a rich source of material for the satirical writings that brought him fame, as well as a platform for his political activism. Published in serial form in the prominent periodicals of his time, Barreto’s novels are now regarded as amongst Latin America’s finest. He died in 1922.

MARK CARLYON (translator) has translated a number of Brazilian classics, including works by Manuel Antonio de Almeida, Machado de Assis and João do Rio.  He lives in Rio de Janeiro.
 
LILIA MORITZ SCHWARCZ (introducer) is Professor of Anthropology at the University of São Paolo, a Global Scholar at Princeton University, and author of many books on Brazil and Brazilian Literature.GB