The Fortune-Teller by Machado de Assis - Short Story Summary, Analysis, Review

[@edisonlima4647]

The Card Reader is a classic! The protagonist ignoring all the signs and foreshadowing about his destiny because he would rather hear lies is definitely part of it, in my opinion. About the "pearly gates", Machado would occasionally use Rio de Janeiro itself as a foreshadowing device, almost always of the ironic sort. In "Father Against Mother", for instance, a pregnant woman running away from slavery is hunted through some very specific streets in Rio, all named after St. Joseph, St. Mary, birth and help, while her pursuer, a slave-catcher (whose name means "Candid Snows") hounds her through streets named after jewels, merchants and the police. BTW, I think "Father Against Mother" would make for a GREAT review on a Black History/Literature themed series. It is very dark and depressing, but one of Machado's most famous short stories and one of the 3 only times that I'm aware of that he addressed the subject of slavery as a main theme, the other ones being the short story "The Cane" (in Portuguese "the Affair about the Cane"), which I recommend as some of the best second tier Machado short stories and the third being a poem about a naïve young enslaved woman who bought into the then VERY popular discourse that her masters really "thought of her as a family member" and who got only sorrow out of that.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Ah, that’s cool to hear about Rio symbolism. I’ll keep an eye for it

[@favoura7264]

Great video! Had to read this for class, but I was so confused so this helped a lot.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Glad it was helpful!

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

I have only read one thing by Machado de Assis and it was a humdinger of a novel, The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I really want to get to that some day

[@shaanparwani]

I read Dom Casmurro by him.

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

@@TheCodeXCantina I absolutely loved it.

[@bighardbooks770]

_First!_ As an experienced reader of the tarot, I am very intrigued by this story.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I’d love to hear your thoughts

[@bighardbooks770]

@@TheCodeXCantina Far too much to say to type all out, here. I could expound on Voxer?

[@edisonlima4647]

Machado is... Machado. You can hardly go wrong with him. I would definitely recommend "The Mirror", about a man who got a promotion and a new uniform, but who lost "something" very important in exchange, "The Secret Cause", about the best doctor in town and his secret vice on watching humans suffer, "The Alienist", about a psychiatrist who opens a sanatory and gets mad with power, "To Be or Not to Be", about a man who gives up on suicide after falling in love (btw, this one IS named in English in all versions) or "The Devil's Church", in which the Devil asks God for permission to open his own church so he could prove that all men are hypocrites that only care about their own pleasures. God being bored and dismissive with the Devil is, as the kids say, "a mood". If you ever find a copy of the short story "Pylades and Orestes", though, I would definitely recommend it. Given its subject matter in a conservative country like Brazil, it is not as well known as other works of Machado, but it is a very good Machado. In "Pylades and Orestes" a somber, hardworking guy falls in love with his loyal and apparently straight (male) friend, who is quite unaware of his feelings and more than a bit dense, which leads the reader to facepalm SO HARD. It is a comedy (or tragicomedy?) of errors that has, in my opinion, something of Shakespeare on it, with the supposedly-straight friend (and not the other one) being the butt of the joke, which is... kinda refreshing for a 19th Century short story.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Perfect! I really appreciate the recommendation and guidance

[@bighardbooks770]

Have y'all done any Denis Johnson yet? I met him a few time at AZ State Univ (drank w him, once. The poems from "The Incognito Lounge" are great). "Emergency," from _Jesus' Son_ is one if my favorite short stories.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Can’t say we have

[@bighardbooks770]

@@TheCodeXCantina Well, alright & cooleeo! And. "I helped!" Maybe y'all could study a wee-bit upon that one, Id appreciate that, a lot. To: Denis! 🌹😁🎨🤠

[@TheNerdyNarrative]

Lots of kisses blown in this one 🤣

[@TheCodeXCantina]

😂