Brazilian Tales

In Short

Brazilian Tales is a seminal 1921 anthology collecting six translated short stories from four of Brazil's foundational literary figures: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, José Medeiros e Albuquerque, Coelho Netto, and Carmen Dolores. Ranging from psychological suspense to fatalistic folk tragedy and social satire, the stories trace the inner collapse of characters trapped by greed, obsession, class expectations, and grief. The volume has endured as a pivotal historical bridge, introducing English-speaking readers to the sophisticated realism, ironies, and rich regional atmospheres that defined late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century South American fiction.

The Story

The anthology unfolds through six distinct narratives that explore the fractures in human character across urban and rural Brazil. It opens with Machado de Assis's "The Attendant's Confession," where Procopio Vallongo takes a job nursing Colonel Felisberto, a notoriously abusive, sick old man. After enduring endless cruelties, Procopio snaps during a late-night altercation and strangles the colonel. Horrified, Procopio conceals his crime and prepares for punishment, only to learn that the deceased left him his entire fortune. As the local townspeople universally denounce the dead colonel as a monster, Procopio's guilt slowly evaporates into self-justifying satisfaction, and he freely enjoys his stolen inheritance.

Machado de Assis continues with "The Fortune-Teller," tracing a tragic love triangle between Camillo, his friend Villela, and Villela's beautiful wife, Rita. When an anonymous letter warns Camillo that his secret affair with Rita is known, he panics and steps back from the household. Desperate for reassurance, Camillo consults a impoverished card-reader who assures him that Villela suspects nothing and that their love has a bright future. Soothed by her prophecy, Camillo hurries straight to Villela's house upon request, only to discover that Villela has already murdered Rita and is waiting to shoot Camillo dead on the floor.

In "Life," Machado de Assis shifts to a philosophical allegory where the Wandering Jew, Ahasverus, witnesses the end of mankind. Seeking death, he meets Prometheus, who claims a new, glorious race of humanity will arise and offers to make Ahasverus their king. But as Ahasverus accepts the crown, the vision vanishes, leaving him bound in chains to suffer endless existence on a dead earth.

Medeiros e Albuquerque’s "The Vengeance of Felix" pivots to a bitter tale of revenge. Old Felix is devastated when his son is imprisoned for stabbing a man, mainly because the arresting officer was Bernardo, an arrogant neighbor Felix despises. Unable to attack Bernardo physically, Felix meticulously frames him for a robbery-murder using a planted nickel watch. Bernardo is sentenced to hard labor for life, leaving Felix victorious in his cold malice.

Coelho Netto’s "The Pigeons" explores rural dread as a traditional caboclo Indian family watches their sick son, Luiz. When the domestic pigeons suddenly desert their roost, father Tiburcio knows the folk omen means death is imminent. Desperate, he seeks a local sorceress for a spell, but returns home to find his wife Joanna sobbing over the boy's corpse.

Finally, Carmen Dolores’s "Aunt Zezé's Tears" portrays Maria-José, an aging, unmarried woman living with her sister's family. Dressed like a teenager by relatives who ignore her inner life, Zezé harbors a secret passion for Monjardin, a poet visiting the house. At a family dinner, Monjardin recites a poem dedicated to Zezé, but it turns out to be a toast wishing her joy as a future aunt to her nieces' children. Realizing her romantic dreams are a delusion, Zezé breaks down into uncontrollable, humiliating tears at the table.

How It Unfolds

A violent nurse takes the inheritance After months of enduring relentless insults and physical abuse from the invalid Colonel Felisberto, Procopio Vallongo strangles the old man in a midnight struggle. Expecting arrest, Procopio is instead praised for his devotion and named sole heir to the colonel’s vast estate. As the community recounts the dead man's cruelties, Procopio's remorse vanishes, and he uses the wealth to live comfortably in Rio.

A lover trusts a false prophet Camillo receives an anonymous letter exposing his clandestine affair with Rita, the wife of his close friend Villela. Anxious after receiving an urgent summon from Villela, Camillo stops at a local fortune-teller who uses dirty cards to reassure him of safety and love. Emboldened by her promises, he enters Villela's house only to find Rita murdered and Villela waiting with a gun.

The last man accepts a doomed crown On an empty, post-apocalyptic Earth, the immortal wanderer Ahasverus meets Prometheus, who promises him that a superior human race will rise with Ahasverus as its honored king. Driven by pride and weary of wandering, Ahasverus agrees to the terms and lets himself be bound. He realizes too late that he has been duped into accepting eternal punishment on a barren world.

An old man plants a fatal frame Furious that his neighbor Bernardo—a pretentious former political henchman turned policeman—arrested his son, the invalid Felix plot revenge from his bed. Felix carefully orchestrates a frame-up, placing a stolen nickel watch on Bernardo to link him directly to a murder. Bernardo is convicted and sentenced to life at hard labor, giving Felix a dark victory.

An omen foretells a child's death Tiburcio watches in despair as his flock of pigeons abandons their roost, knowing local superstition dictates that tragedy always follows their flight. As his wife Joanna stays by their severely ill son Luiz, Tiburcio leaves to find a woman capable of casting protective spells. He arrives back at the cabin too late, finding Joanna collapsed over their child's lifeless body.

A spinster's romance shatters in public Maria-José, an unmarriable aunt treated as a household ornament, secretly falls in love with a charming family poet named Monjardin. During a festive dinner, Monjardin reads a custom poem dedicated to her, but her joy turns to horror when she realizes the verses celebrate her role as an eternal aunt. Unable to hide her heartbreak, she collapses into desperate sobs in front of the gathered guests.

The People

• Procopio José Gomes Vallongo: A long-suffering nurse who strangles his tyrannical employer. He wants to escape punishment and live comfortably, but his initial guilt gives way to easy rationalization when he inherits the dead man's fortune.
• Camillo: A timid, indecisive young man who falls into an affair with his best friend's wife. He wants peace of mind and romantic bliss without conflict, but his gullible nature leads him straight into a lethal trap.
• Rita: The beautiful, enchanting wife of Villela. She seeks passion and emotional escape through her affair with Camillo, operating with reckless charm until her husband discovers her betrayal.
• Ahasverus: The legendary Wandering Jew, exhausted by millennia of existence. He wants the absolute end of his life and suffering, but his vanity allows Prometheus to trick him into eternal servitude.
• Felix: A bedridden, vengeful father. He wants to destroy the arrogant policeman who arrested his son, using his remaining mental energy to successfully execute a frame-up.
• Tiburcio: A rural caboclo father desperate to save his dying son. He wants to reverse a bad omen, but his reliance on folk magic cannot alter fate.
• Maria-José (Aunt Zezé): A lonely, aging spinster ignored by her family. She wants romantic affection and dignity, ending up utterly humiliated when her secret hopes are publicly crushed.

In Its Own Voice

"I approached the bed. I looked at the corpse, with its widely distended eyes and its mouth gaping, as if uttering the eternal reproach of the centuries: 'Cain, what hast thou done with thy brother?'"

— Procopio Vallongo discovers the full weight of his crime in Machado de Assis's "The Attendant's Confession."

"The old chaise in which for the first time you rode with your beloved, snuggled together, is as good as the chariot of Apollo."

— The narrator reflects on the intoxicating rise of Camillo and Rita's hidden romance in Machado de Assis's "The Fortune-Teller."

"When she smiled, these wrinkles would cover her countenance with a mask of premature age, and threatened soon to disfigure her entirely."

— Carmen Dolores details the heartbreaking physical decline of the title character in "Aunt Zezé's Tears."

What It's Really About

Beneath their varied settings, these stories examine the fragile illusions humans construct to protect themselves from reality. The collection argues that self-deception—whether through moral rationalization, superstition, vanity, or romantic fantasy—is a universal defense mechanism against a harsh world. Characters like Procopio soothe their consciences by convincing themselves that their victims deserved destruction, while characters like Camillo and Aunt Zezé cling to false promises of happiness right up to the moment of catastrophe. The collection highlights the hypocrisy of social conventions, showing how class expectations, public opinion, and domestic routines conceal profound personal cruelties.

Why Read It Today

Brazilian Tales remains an engaging entrance into the rich landscape of Latin American fiction. Modern readers will appreciate its dark humor, tight psychological plotting, and sharp ironic twists. Machado de Assis’s contributions in particular offer a masterclass in unreliable narration and biting cynicism, while Carmen Dolores and Coelho Netto bring poignant observations of social stifling and rural hardship.

The collection does present minor difficulties for contemporary audiences. The translated prose carries the formal, slightly grand style of early-twentieth-century publishing, and a few entries rely on dated literary tropes, such as mythic allegories or dramatic melodrama. Additionally, the depiction of rural folk superstitions and class dynamics reflects the period attitudes of turn-of-the-century Brazil. Yet these historical features never obscure the core appeal of the book: its piercing insight into human flaws, its tragic ironies, and its vivid slice of Brazilian literary history.