The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is a work by the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. It was published in 1881 and inaugurated the realist movement in Brazil.
Divided into 160 titled chapters, the narrator is a deceased named Brás Cubas.
“To the worm that first gnawed the cold flesh of my corpse I dedicate these posthumous memories as a nostalgic remembrance”
Characters of the work
- Bras Cubas: protagonist of the story and the narrator, considered the “deceased author”.
- virgilia: daughter of counselor Dutra and lover of Brás Cubas.
- Dutra Board Member: politician and father of Virgília.
- Snow Wolf: politician and Virgília's husband.
- Sabina: sister of Brás Cubas, married to Cotrim.
- cotrim: Sabina's husband and Nhã-Loló's uncle.
- Nha-Lolo: niece of Cotrim and suitor of Brás Cubas.
- Luís Dutra: cousin of Virgília.
- Mrs Placid: Virgília's maid and alibi of Virgília's relationship with Brás Cubas.
- Quincas Borba: philosopher, beggar and childhood friend of Brás Cubas.
- Marcela: prostitute and passion of the youth of Brás Cubas.
- D. Eusebia: friend of the family of Brás Cubas.
- Eugenics: lame woman and daughter of D. Eusebia.
- prudence: slave of Brás Cubas.
Work summary
The work begins with the declaration of the death of Brás Cubas, whose narrator and protagonist recounts his memories after being a victim of pneumonia.
Belonging to a wealthy family from the 19th century, Brás Cubas first narrates his death and burial where eleven friends appeared.
Consequently, he reports several moments in his life, from events in his childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Even at the beginning of the work, he reveals his expectations with the “plaster”, a medicine that has great healing potential.
During his childhood, Brás Cubas talks about his relationship with his slave, the black boy Prudencio. As an aristocratic boy, belonging to the upper class, Brás Cubas outlines the relationship he had with the boy since his games and whims.
In this relationship, we can note the superiority of Brás who rode the black boy. In addition, he writes about a friend of the Quincas Borba school who eventually becomes a philosopher and develops the theory of humanitarianism.
As a young man, he meets Marcela, a luxury prostitute with whom he falls in love. This relationship was based on interests, although Cubas points out that Marcela loved him “for fifteen months and eleven contos de réis”.
Worried about the involvement that Brás had with Marcela, his father decides that his son should study abroad for a while.
Therefore, he went to study in Coimbra, Portugal, where he graduated in Law. Back in Brazil, he falls in love with Virgília, however, she ends up marrying Lobo Leves. That's because she intended to have more status and decides to stick with a politician with more influence.
Although desolate, the couple find themselves in secret in a house rented for this purpose. At that moment we can notice the presence of Dona Plácida, Virgília's employee and who covers up all the adulteress' encounters.
Finally, Brás Cubas enters politics and even though he does a mediocre job, this position gives him a certain “status”, in a world where appearance was the most praiseworthy.
Analysis of the work
Narrated in first person, the novel features a narrator-observer, considered the “deceased author”. At various times, Machado opted for the interlocution resource, where she speaks directly to the reader of the work.
"The work itself is everything: if you like it, fine reader, I'll pay for the task; if you don't like it, I'll pay you with a flick, and goodbye."
Time can be divided into chronological and psychological. The first is developed by the occurrence of facts in the life of Brás Cubas, that is, in a linear way. The second belongs to the author's memories and ramblings during his report.
With regard to space, we can mention Rio de Janeiro, Coimbra and even a more specific place, Gamboa. The latter is a neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where he met Virgília.
Full of ironies, metaphors and euphemisms, Machado managed to represent in this work several social critics, including the elite of the time.
In addition, it had as a striking feature the change in the linear plot with beginning, middle and end. It was with this mixture of time that the writer marked a new literary phase.
Even though he was innovative in this aspect, we must emphasize that the work ends with a chapter in which Brás Cubas summarizes everything that was negative in his life.
Thus, from this perspective, we can say that the book escapes the classic patterns, associated with a happy ending and also with the linearity of the facts.
The characters that make up the work are mostly from the Brazilian elite. On the other hand, Machado includes figures of lesser social prestige, such as Prudência, Dona Plácida and the prostitute Marcela.
It is interesting to note that since the narrator is dead and living on another plane, Bras is not concerned with morality. In this way, his moral as well as material detachment is revealed in his ironic and carefree speech.
Check the entire work by downloading the PDF here: The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas.
Excerpts from the work
Chapter 1 - Author's Death
For some time I hesitated whether to open these memories at the beginning or at the end, that is, whether I should put my birth or my death first. Assuming the common usage is to start at birth, two considerations led me to adopt a different method: a first is that I'm not exactly a deceased author, but a deceased author, for whom the grave was another baby crib; the second is that the writing would thus become more gallant and younger. Moses, who also told of her death, did not put her on the introit, but on the hilt; radical difference between this book and the Pentateuch.
Chapter 62 - The Pillow
I went to Virgília; I soon forgot Quincas Borba. Virgília was the pillow of my spirit, a soft, warm, aromatic pillow, covered in cambric and Brussels. It was there that he used to rest from all the bad sensations, simply boring, or even painful. And, all things considered, there was no other reason for Virgília's existence; it couldn't be. Five minutes were enough to completely forget Quincas Borba; five minutes of mutual contemplation, hands clasped together; five minutes and a kiss. And there went the memory of Quincas Borba... Scrupulous of life, rags of the past, what do I care if it exists, that you disturb the eyes of others, if I have two spans of a divine pillow, to close my eyes and sleep?
Chapter 160 - Denials
This last chapter is all negative. I didn't reach the celebrity of the plaster, I wasn't a minister, I wasn't caliph, I didn't know marriage. The truth is that, along with these faults, I had the good fortune of not buying bread with the sweat of my brow. More; I didn't suffer Dona Plácida's death or Quincas Borba's semi-dementia. Adding some things and others, anyone will imagine that there was no shortage or leftover, and, consequently, that I came out even with life. And you will imagine poorly; because when I got to this other side of the mystery, I found myself with a small balance, which is the ultimate negative of this chapter of denials: — I had no children, I did not transmit to any creature the legacy of our misery.
Read too:
- Realistic Prose
- Realism in Brazil
- Machado de Assis
- Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas: Summary by Chapter
Film
Released in 2001 the film "The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas" is a dramatic comedy based on the work of Machado. Directed by André Klotzel, the feature film was awarded at the Gramado Festival.
She fell on Enem!
(Enem-2001)
In the excerpt below, the narrator, when describing the character, subtly criticizes another period style: romanticism.
“At that time he was only about fifteen or sixteen; he was perhaps the boldest creature of our race, and certainly the most willful. I don't say that the primacy of beauty already fell to him, among the young ladies of the time, because this is not a novel, in which the author gilds reality and closes his eyes to freckles and pimples; but I don't say that any freckles or pimples marred his face either. It was beautiful, fresh, it came out of the hands of nature, full of that spell, precarious and eternal, that the individual passes on to another individual, for the secret purposes of creation.”
ASSIS, Ax de. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. Rio de Janeiro: Jackson, 1957.
The sentence in the text in which the narrator's criticism of romanticism is perceived is transcribed in the alternative:
The) "... the author gilds reality and closes his eyes to freckles and pimples..."
B) "... he was perhaps the boldest creature of our race...”
c) "It was beautiful, fresh, it came out of the hands of nature, full of that spell, precarious and eternal,..."
d) "At that time it was only about fifteen or sixteen years old..."
and) "... the individual passes to another individual, for the secret purposes of creation.”
Alternative to: "... the author gilds reality and closes his eyes to freckles and pimples..."
Read too Questions about realism and naturalism.