Memorial de Aires

Published in 1908, Memorial de Aires is the diary of Counselor Aires, a retired diplomat who returns to Rio de Janeiro and, from January 1888 to August 1889, writes down what he sees around him: the abolition of slavery, the fall of a cabinet, the dinners in Flamengo.

At the heart of the entries is the story of two couples: the elderly Aguiar and Dona Carmo, childless, who want their godson Tristão as a son, and the young widow Fidélia, whose quiet mourning is disturbed by Tristão’s return. With fine, discreet irony, Aires observes and records everything, and life, as always in Machado, happens between the lines.

This edition, in Portuguese, follows the 1908 text (H. Garnier), with modernized spelling and the author’s vocabulary kept. The footnotes explain places, facts and references of the period, and quotations in other languages come with translations. At the end of the book: a chronology, a note on the author, a character guide and suggestions for further reading.