“This critical study may come to be considered second only to Helen Caldwell's Machado de Assis: The Brazilian Master and his Novels among books on the subject published in the U.S. ... It is a book geared to the American scholar that will also prove highly readable to the serious graduate student. The work, says the author, is `based on a close reading of the texts and of all previous criticism, and maintains a dialogue with this criticism.' The introduction is an annotated bibliographical account of existing works about Machado. Of the seven chapters, `The Quest for Time' and `A Theory of Character' are of special interest for generating intelligent classroom discussion.”– Choice