Esau and Jacob (Library of Latin America) [Hardcover]

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Author), Dain Borges (Editor), Elizabeth Lowe (Translator), Carlos Felipe Moises (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0195108108 | ISBN-13: 978-0195108101

Esau and Jacob is the last of Machado de Assis's four great novels. At one level it is the story of twin brothers in love with the same woman and her inability to choose between them. At another level, it is the story of Brazil itself, caught between the traditional and the modern, and between the monarchical and republican ideals. Instead of a heroic biblical fable, Machado de Assis gives us a story of the petty squabbles, conflicting ambitions, doubts, and insecurities that are part of the human condition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like Balzac's Human Comedy, Machado de Assis's major novels provide readers with a social physiognomyAa map of surface phenomena that indicate deeper cultural meaning. This novel, written in 1904, harks back to the waning years of Brazil's monarchy, in the 1880s. Natividade and Augostinho Santos are upper-class Brazilians living in Rio de Janeiro. When Natividade gives birth to twins, she succumbs to "plebian" superstition by anonymously visiting an Indian fortune-teller who hints that her twins fought in the womb. Even after birth, the brothers are continually in conflict. Pedro is a legitimist, who hangs a portrait of Louis XVI over his bed; Paulo is a radical, hanging a picture of Robespierre over his. Their status as adversaries is cemented by their dueling courtship of one girl: Flora Batista. While Flora's parents try to anticipate the events that will transform Brazil from a kingdom to a republic, Flora puzzles over her choice of lovers. Her indecision leads her first into hallucination and finally into death. In Machado's novels, the characters' observations of the plot are as important as the plot itself. The observers here are Natividade, who notices the hostility between her sons, and Counselor Aires, a retired diplomat who records his thoughts in a series of notebooks. Disguising his contrarian viewpoints in baroque compliments, Aires positions himself as a detached psychologist, searching for the truths of temperament beneath ephemeral conflicts of opinion. Machado is both a first-rate humorist and a prescient experimenter with narrative convention. This fresh translation, sponsored by the Library of Latin America, will hopefully attract new readers to one of the great 19th-century novelists. (Oct.) FYI: Esau and Jacob is edited, with a foreword and notes, by Dain Borges, and includes an afterword by Carlos Felipe Mois?s.
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From Booklist

Originally published in 1904, this novel by Brazil's greatest writer appears as part of Oxford's Library of Latin Writers. Presented as the final notebook by urbane diplomat Aires, the novel spans the last three decades of the nineteenth century, a tumultuous period in the history of Brazil, and focuses on a pair of twins and their enchantment with the same woman. A fortuneteller in Rio de Janeiro predicts great things for one-year-old Pedro and Paulo, and their mother expects no less, despite their differing philosophies and recurring conflicts. When lovely Flora is unable to choose between the two of them, she seeks the counsel of Aires but eventually departs the scene in a manner typical of a fictional Victorian maiden. This mannered, leisurely view of the human condition as seen through members of a particular privileged class has been analyzed by critics for decades for its layers of allegory, allusion, and symbolism and its narrative form. Now students have a renewed opportunity to study this novel and readers to enjoy it, on whatever level. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195108108
• ISBN-13: 978-0195108101
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,006,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Selling my birthright for a mess of pottage", January 6, 2001

By 

Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Esau and Jacob (Library of Latin America) (Paperback)

In the Book of Genesis, Isaac and Rebekah have two sons, one hairy and red, the other smooth. These are Esau and Jacob, who struggled with each other even in the womb of their mother. Genesis Chapter 25, verse 23, "And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." Later, Esau, the hunter sells his birthright to Jacob, the farmer for a simple meal.

I don't know if my tribal history of well over 3,000 years ago is an apt resource for creating allegories regarding 19th century Brazil, but Machado de Assis gave it a shot anyhow. The entire novel is a rather tedious allegory of Brazilian society at the time. In my opinion, it would have made an excellent short story while a 287 page novel is far too long. The two boys born in 1871 to a wealthy Rio de Janeiro family are alike as two peas in a pod, though their temperaments differ. Their mother, named Natividade ( in case you don't "get it"), represents Brazil, the loving figure who nurtures her twin sons, two contradictory spirits who represent conservative and liberal forces in society. These boys conflict throughout the novel, loving the same frail girl (the future ? the present ?) who never consumates marriage with either. Ah, poor Brazil ! What could the future hold ? The author avoids the question as to which brother is the elder and which the younger by making them identical twins. The novel's title alludes to the Bible story, but the narrative bears only some relation to it. Are petty political chicanery, romantic quarrels, suspicious behavior, and useless arguments based on personal pride or ambition, a mess of pottage ? In fairness, it is a clever idea, but I feel it was over-ambitious and ultimately only partially successful. If you take the novel as a simple story about late 19th century Brazil, it is without much life---a girl who can't choose between two jealous and quarreling brothers, some other plot features found in the author's other works. The style of the novel is the same in the two better known books "Epitaph of a Small Winner" and "Dom Casmurro", with many small chapters with titles that pilot the narrative. There is very little description and much lyrical philosophy, attempted irony and wit. These do not sparkle as in the above mentioned novels. ESAU AND JACOB is not up to the standard of the other two, and will attract only the most dedicated readers; perhaps those who are studying Latin American, Nineteenth Century, or Brazilian Literature. I cannot imagine any average reader undertaking this for pure pleasure in the 21st century, because both style and topic are too far from modern sensibilities. You also need to have a fairly comprehensive understanding of Brazilian society in the last quarter of the 19th century. My final word---J.M. Machado de Assis wrote many better works. Try them.