The World's Literature in Europe discussion

I began reading this novel of 1899/1900, an edition by the Library of Latin America, and am into the Foreword. From the book sleeve, we learn the story will be critical of religion, will explore the human soul, and extend over a lifetime.

i think i have the same one--translated by John Gledson? i'm really looking forward to reading this but i'm going to finish Dona Flor first. :D

Marieke wrote: "i think i have the same one--translated by John Gledson? i'm really looking forward to reading this but i'm going to finish Dona Flor first. :D"

Yes. John Gledson on the author page seems to specialize in works by Machado de Assis. Interesting, also, is Gledson's The Deceptive Realism of Machado De Assis: A Dissenting Interpretation of Dom Casmurro. Maybe I ought to remove "realism" from my description of Dom Casmurro from TWL's homepage, while I read Gledson's view?

Still in Dona Flor, too.!

Machado de Assis, the author of Dom Casmurro, lived from 1839 to 1908, so this novel was written toward the end of his life. Dom Casmurro, the narrator, tells the story from his old age, focusing on both the 1850s and 1890s Rio de Janeiro. The Translator's Foreword says that the story is about the love and adultery of Bentinho (Bento) Santiago and Capitu Pádua and is imposed on the historical background of that city. Other characters are Bento's mother Dona Glória, his Uncle Cosme, Cousin Justina, the Pádua family, and José Dias. The novel then begins, having 148 brief chapters and an Afterword:

I: The Title
While traveling on a train, Bento is dubbed 'Dom Casmurro', which to common folks means "a quiet person who keeps himself to himself."

II: The Book
The story begins on an important November afternoon...

III. The Accusation
An afternoon in the Matacavalos house in November 1857. Dona Glória is tearful, have long ago promised to send Bento to a seminary.

...

DON CASMURRO, cont'd

V: The Dependent
José Dias, a close family friend/retainer, turns out to be an advocate of homeopathy, calling himself 'doctor' as he heals others, confessing that to follow the directions in a book, even if his actions heal, is more a charlatan than a doctor:

...He had taken the title to help spread the new doctrine, and he hadn't done it without a great deal of hard study; but his conscience didn't allow him to take on any more patients...
...it would be better however to say that I followed the remedies prescribed in the books. There, there lies the real truth...(12)

VI: Uncle Cosme
Widowed, a Lawyer, and Bento's Uncle.

VII: Dona Glória
Dona Maria da Glória Fernandes Santiago, Bento's widowed mother; Bento's father was Pedro de Albuquerque Santiago.

XIV: The Inscription
Bento and Capitu's full names are Bentinho and Capitolina

XVIII: A Plan to get out of going to seminary
Will Bento and Capitu's plan to reverse his mother's promise to heaven succeed? She made a prayerful promise to make Bento a priest if he were born rather than miscarried.

XXI: Cousin Justina
Forty-year-old widow.

XXIII: The Time is fixed
Helpful annotations to the text explain unique features of the nineteenth century.

XXV: At the Promenade
José Dias criticizes the neighbors, the Páduas, for their "low status", thinking it more important than the respect deserved by Fortunata (Nanata) Pádua and Pádua's honesty, good job, and homeownership.
According to Bento and Caputu's plan to reverse his mother's intention for his future in the seminary, Bentu enlists the influence of José Dias.

XXXIII: The Combing
Manon Lescaut by L'Abbé Prévost is mentioned in relation to Bento and Capitu's attraction to each other. How similar are the two stories?

XXXV: The Protonotary Apostolic
The non-Curia honor awarded, perhaps by Pius XI, to Father Cabral. Another historical figure Machado de Assis includes is The Emperor Pedro II (1825-92).

XXXVII: The Soul is Full of Mysteries
Bento's second kiss.

XXXVIII: Goodness, what a fright!
At this point in the story, the year 1857, the narrator Bento reveals that he's looking back from the perspective of forty years ago.

DON CASMURRO, cont'd

XLI: Dona Glória prefers in her heart that Bento pursue a vocation different from the seminary but in her mind refuses to break the promise made at Bentu's healthy birth.

XLIV, XLVII: Fourteen-year-old Capitu, uncertain about her and Bento's future relationship, asks him to hear her confession before his first Mass and to baptize her first child. The youths later change their minds, promising to marry only each other.

L: Because Bentu says that he would prefer medicine, law, or any vocation except the seminary, Father Cabral and José Dias suggest a year or two at the seminary to test out his dislike/like of it.

LI: The months pass by, it being time for Bentu's farewells to all and his departure to São José.

LII: Bentu gives Old Pádua, Capitu's father, a lock of his golden hair.

LIV: The time span of the plot advances about forty years into the 1890's, Bentu politely agreeing with a former classmate from the seminary that he remembers the fellow's poem 'The Panegyric of Saint Monica'. Having forgotten it, the adult Bentu is nevertheless inspired to write a sonnet about Capitu that begins with a beautiful first line from their farewell long ago.

DOM CASMURRO, cont'd

LVI: Recounting his life from the vantage point of forty years later, 1899, at the plantation of Engenho Novo, the narrator Bento on page 107, says, I was not yet Casmurro, nor Dom Casmurro. So, how and why did others stop calling him by his birth name Bentinho (Bento)?

LVIII: On page 110 Bento causes more raised eyebrows from the reader, ...this book is the unvarnished truth...

LXI: José Dias divulges a plan to Bento--the young lad must leave the seminary because of a (ahem!) cough, cured only by a change of climate.

LXII: However, he does get permission to visit his Mother on Saturday.

LXIII: Did Bento become a priest, bishop, or Pope? This chapter tells you.

LXVII: His mother ill, Bento thinks her death would nullify the promise she made to god at his conception but quickly repents such a thought.

LXVIII: Bento fudges a bit in his claim for "unvarnished truth" above: Well, there is only one way of putting one's essence onto paper, and that is by telling it all, the good and the bad. That is what I am doing, as I remember it and as it fits into the construction or reconstruction of my self.

LXX: Gurgel and his daughter Sanchinha (Sancha) are introduced into the story.

LXXIV: A returned look from Capitu to a man on horseback makes Bento wonder whether she admires the local beaux?

LXXVIII: At the seminary, Bento and Escobar discover a friendship, both lads preferring not to become a priest and Bento telling him about his secret love for Capitu: You can't imagine the pleasure that I got from confiding this secret. It was one happiness on top of another. That youthful heart that listened to me and approved of my plans, gave the world an extraordinary new aspect. It was grand and beautiful, life was a wonderful race to be run, and I no more nor less than the darling of heaven; that was the sensation I had. And note that I didn't tell him everything, nor yet the best of it; I didn't tell him the story of combing her hair, for example, nor others like it; but I did tell him a great deal.(142)

LXXIX: Escobar and Bento agree that Dona Glória is "adorable".

LXXXIV-XCII: Manduca, a neighbor boy, dies of leprosy. Though Bento and he differ drastically in economic status--Bento's family owning a plantation, a townhouse, untold slaves to work on both, and innumerable rented houses, so much so that his mother and cousin refuse him permission to attend the funeral--Bento remembers a three month exchange of written arguments between himself and Manduca about whether the Russians would ever invade the Ottoman Empire protected by allies in the Crimean War.

XCIV: Bento discovers that Escobar is a genius in arithmetical calculation.

Marieke wrote: "i think i have the same one--translated by John Gledson..."

I compared an earlier, different translation by someone else, and much preferred the translation and format of this one by John Gledson.

DOM CASMURRO, cont'd

XCV: Don José thinks up another plan that allows Bento to part ways with the seminary for good--he and Bento can ask the Pope to absolve Dona Glória from the promise made at Bento's conception.

XCVI: But, Bento's friend Escobar comes up with a better plan--Dona Glória finds an orphan, a substitute for Bento, for whom she will pay to become a priest.

XCVII: Escobar's plan to educate an orphan succeeds, while five years later at twenty-two years old Bento receives a Bachelor of Law degree.

CI: In 1856, Bento and Capitu honeymoon in Tijuca.

CV: Random events still spur Bento to jealousy re: Capitu.

CVIII-CXII: A son, Ezequiel, is born to Bento and Capitu. At five years old, he begins to evince personal traits and penchants, surprising and worrying his parents.

CXVII-CXXI: Bento, Escobar, and their wives become very close friends. A foreboding reference to the historian João Barros cautions: ...good friends should remain distant from one another, not close, so as not to become angry with one another, like the waves of the sea that were beating furiously on the rocky coastline...(203) What will happen next?

DOM CASMURRO, cont'd

CXXII: Escobar's tragedy and Bento's oration about it occur the same year as the Law of the Free Womb in Brazil, emancipating those born after 28 September 1871 at age 21. On 13 May 1888, Brazil abolished slavery altogether.

CXXV: Bento is periodically stung with jealousy in his and Capitu's romance, this tragic disposition intensifying as he ages....my old passion...was blinding me still, and making me lose my head as always.(215)

CXXXII: Ezequiel, Bento's only offspring, resembles Escobar in physique and manner more and more, causing him to suspect an affair between Escobar and Capitu.

CXXXV-CXLI: Bento compares his jealousy with William Shakespeare's Othello and Capitu's innocence with Desdemona. Is Capitu innocent? and how should he take revenge? he wonders. Who shall he do away with? Maybe Gurgel was right about "unexplainable resemblances". Bento displays more rationality, though, than the king in Shakespeare's Cymbeline, in which the king doubts the paternity of his young son because of the warm relationship displayed between his long-time close friend and his wife.

CXLIV: Besides his jealous feelings, Bento is bothered by his motivation for demolishing Dona Glória's house in Mataclavos then reproducing it at Engenho Novo.

DOM CASMURRO, THE FRUIT AND THE RIND: AN AFTERWORD by João Adolfo Hansen, translated by John Gledson: This helpful analysis brings out its dark undertones--...in Chapter IX...life is defined as an opera conducted by Satan(252)--and its historical setting (the transition between Portuguese colonial patriarchy under Dom Pedro II and "Brazilian conservative modernization" (Brazil becomes an Republic before novel's end.):

Bento's memory is made up of the commonplaces of the patriarchal jurisprudence inculcated in him by the family group. Each family member represents a principle: Religion and Property in the case of Dona Glória; Law, Uncle Cosme; Dependency, Cousin Justina, and finally, Submission in the case of José Dias.(254-55)...By his mother, he [Bento] had learned that in a woman, independence of character is a vice.

Hence, on the patriarchal side, his aristocratic bearing and the nickname "Dom Casmurro". Bento also suffers from those "authoritarian" values inculcated in youth:

...his jealousy is also the result of his lack of autonomy and reveals, once again, the authoritarian principles of his upbringing.(257)

When the reader expects that "destiny" will follow from Bento's feelings of revenge, his will betrays him. All in all, the story was good in the beginning but grew most intriguing towards the end, as jealousy and its rationalizations and twists of fate boil together. It's so surprising that Bento's mental instability and his bitterness do not result in an act of sin.

Nicola wrote: "...I decided to have a peek at the general comments about this book. I was drawn to one in particular that states: "I can only imagine, if this book will be chosen for book discussion...there could be disagreements that could lead to war..."..."

A living, breathing discussion might be assez bien.

Nicola wrote: "Well then, here is my small contribution :)

I've just finished the book and a cursory skim of the foreword and afterword. I read it straight through as a story and enjoyed it on the whole althoug..."

The beginning of Dom Casmurro is more pleasant than the end, but it's there that the early evidence of his jealousy sporadically peeks through the narrative; at the ending of Dom Casmurro, in his full maturity, those jealous pangs torment him perversely. Uncomfortable to identify with him there, but perhaps I've overstated the cringing felt by the reader when he contemplates what to do over his son's uncertain paternity. He is almost certain that he has been cuckolded by resemblances, but, unlike Shakespeare's Othello, dark retribution doesn't necessarily follow through his agency. Dom Casmurro's marital and paternal affection, his inkling of doubt against his strong suspicions, and his good fortune from events prevent dire tragedy. As a youth, he struggled to assert his right to independent choice to follow his preferred profession. As a man, the choice most difficult--to act rationally despite mental anguish, to do the least harm possible, to act reasonably demonstrating his goodness outweighs his vice--does redress some of his errors. I agree with you, Nicola, that Machado de Assis depicts characters thoroughly human, slightly flawed, letting characters' hearts and heads and a hint of luck act lead to a reasonable choice of action. Perhaps, this optimism makes the story less than realistic to some readers.

I know I'm way behind in most of the discussions, but I can't help my desire of "reliving" this topic...

Dom Casmurro is one of the best brazilian books ever made. Here in Brazil, it is so appreaciated as a literary masterpiece that almost every high-school demands their students to read it... and after the reading most of the teachers do the same analyzes exercise: a trial is set up with the students discussing: "Did Capitu cheated on Bentinho?"
Capitu is portrayed as the defendant and some students try to defend the point of view that she is innocent while the others argue that she is guilty of the charge of adultery. It is a quite fun critical exercise that makes the student read the book with eyes wide open...

And, a few years ago the major tv companny in Brazil, Globo, made a tv series about the book in honour of the 100th year of Machado de Assis's death. It was a beautiful adaptation, mixing modern and traditional aspects, retelling the story from a different perspective. In my opinion it was one of the most amazing works that tv ever made.

I tried to find a link for it in English, but couldn't find it...

Lidiana wrote: "I know I'm way behind in most of the discussions, but I can't help my desire of "reliving" this topic...

Dom Casmurro is one of the best brazilian books ever made. Here in Brazil, it is so appreac..."

The question of whether Bentinho is a pacific Othello caps the novel, leaving the reader to question his and Capitu's characters and actions and making a perfect scenario to enact a mock classroom trial.

Bentinho's jealousy is always present but grows more lasting and bitter as he ages. As a child, his friend Capitu, intentionally or unintentionally, tweaks Bentinho's jealousy, but his jealousy is easily diverted and their friendship survives and grows. As he matures, his jealousy lasts longer, becoming silently bitter, leaving less room to give her the benefit of the doubt. Another Shakespearean parallel is the King of The Winter's Tale, who accuses the Queen and the King's longtime friend of making him accept their son as if the boy were his and the Queen's own issue. The Queen apparently dies of grief, but a trusted servant secretly keeps her out-of-sight for many years. Both the King and Queen finally forgive each other. That is, Shakespeare leaves open whether the King was an irrational man or whether he had just cause in thinking the Queen was adulterous. This is the dilemma which Machado asks readers to ponder.

Another question the story raises is the origin of Bentinho's eponymous title, Dom Casmurro. When I read the novel several months ago, the link between Bentinho and Dom Casmurro seemed unclear, as I don't believe that Bentinho attended the seminary the full time to become an official priest. Maybe his second thoughts are that he should have remained rather than marry.