There were many ways that I could have picked to start this post. I could have begun with quotes from Susan Sontag or Harold Bloom praising Machado de Assis to the point that would make all of my words unnecessary. I could have chosen the classical “Brás Cubas is dead,” to intrigue you into adding the book to your shopping cart.

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As a hard-headed young girl desperate to make an impact, I read books about revolutions—female leads engaging with causes that encapsulated demands of a whole people. I was always struck by the power a society carries, and by the human disposition to resist oppression.

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