Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
He is the greatest author ever produced in Latin America.
In plain terms
He is the top Latin American author.
What can you take from it?
His work stands as the pinnacle of Latin American literature.

Where it applies

  • regional literary studies
  • cultural appreciation

Putting it to work

  • include his works in curricula
  • promote Latin American literature

Questions to consider

  • How do we measure literary greatness?
  • What role does regional context play?

Another view

Such superlatives ignore other significant authors.

More from Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

  1. Machado de Assis is almost certainly the greatest of all Portuguese-language novelists. He is also a novelist far ahead of his time. There is little in the twe…

    Permalink to quote #17

  2. Machado de Assis is a kind of miracle, another demonstration of the autonomy of literary genius in regard to time and place, politics and religion.

    Permalink to quote #16

  3. The supreme black literary artist to date.

    Permalink to quote #15

Related quotes

  1. 'Was there ever such thing as great Shakespeare? Only one must not say so! But what think you - what - was there not sad stuff?'

    George III of the United KingdomGeorge III of the United Kingdom quote #4

  2. Clemens was sole, incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature.

    William Dean HowellsWilliam Dean Howells quote #10

  3. Whatever the word 'great' means, Dickens was what it means.

    Gilbert Keith ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton quote #105