The Alienist

Short story or novella? Realism or allegory? Reason or folly? In Machado de Assis’s The Alienist, a masterwork of Brazilian prose, a doctor of the human judgement opens an asylum in Itaguaí, the infamous Casa Verde, “bastion of human reason”. After compulsory hospitalizing of almost every citizen of the peaceful town, the doctor decides, finally, to free them and admit himself. Originally published in 1882, the story deals with the subjective terrain between sanity and madness, reflecting and cracking wide open the concept of normality. After all, not even a genius could define what’s normal.

This edition is illustrated by the works of Rivane Neuenschwander, dolls made from glass bottles, fabric and papier-mâché, throwing the plot’s characters forward into the current context, creating a “fiction inside a fiction”, inviting us to reflect on irrationality and a disrepute of national dimensions. Free associations between the 19th Century literary work and the homonymous 21st Century visual work reverberate the contemporary pulse of the original story: greed for power, political interests, religious dogma, superstition.

“The edition in the reader’s hands, illustrated with images by artist Rivane Neuenschwander in her homonymous work, brings up the political relevance of the story in contemporary Brazil, where misdemeanours and absurds such as flat-earthers and science denial meet in terrifying synchronicity with populism and worldwide conservatism in this first quarter of the 21st Century.” – From the foreword by Elton Corbanezi and Laymert Garcia dos Santos

About the author
Machado de Assis, journalist, writer of short stories, columns, novels, poems and plays, was born in the Morro do Livramento, in Rio de Janeiro, on June 21st 1839, and died in the same city, on September 29th 1908. In 1881, he published his novel Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, inaugurating, his realist period, including his better-known works: Quincas Borba, Dom Casmurro, Esaú e Jacó and Memorial de Aires. In 1882, he published the short story collection Papéis avulsos, featuring “O alienista”. In 1897, he was elected president of the Academia Brasileira de Letras, position which he occupied for over ten years.

About the artist
Rivane Neuenschwander, born in Belo Horizonte, lives and works in São Paulo. She studied at the Escola de Belas Artes da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and at the Royal College of Art, London. The artist focuses on themes such as memory, desire, sexuality, politics and violence in works inviting participation, whether in development or formalisation of ideas. Issues around language ar developed in works appropriating calendars, maps, flags, alphabets and event non-verbal communication. Her work mediates between private and public, authorial and collective. She was part of important collective exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale (2003, 2005), the São Paulo Biennale (1998, 2006, 2008) and the Istambul Biennale (1997, 2011). Among her recent solo shows, some highlights are Alegoria del Miedo, NC-Arte, Bogota (2018); O Nome do Medo, Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro (2017); A Day Like Any Other, New Museum, New York (2010).

Specifications
Author Machado de Assis
Artist Rivane Neuenschwander
Language Portuguese
Page count 120
ISBN 9788555911088
Format Softcover
Size 14 x 23 cm
Year 2020