Machado de Assis’ slender tome is an effortless masterpieces that feels as though it was written in a day, to be read in an hour. It tells the simple story of the apparently cultured man of science, Simão Bacamarte, who sets up an asylum to study madness in a small Brazilian town. The scientist gradually starts locking up anyone he deems insane, including his wife, bringing about a revolution. However, the revolutionaries also believe in science, and as a result they don’t lock Bacamarte up, or even release his prisoners. Finally, Bacamarte reaches the reasonably logical conclusion that in a mad world, the sane are the truly crazy people, and starts locking people up on that basis. Neither rationality nor irrationality can be trusted. Bacamarte is a brilliant charlatan so convinced of his own genius that he has succeeded in convincing everyone else. If ever you wanted an allegory for what is occurring in present day Brazil, this could scarcely be bettered: Bolsonaro’s Brazil seems to be caught up in the spectacle of re-enacting de Assis’ thesis. In addition it goes to the heart of the issues surrounding notions of scientific rationality as a basis for claiming rights over what might be deemed sanity; an issue which is hot-wired into the Brazilian psyche. As perfect a short novel as you could hope to find, one that reveals that alternative literary strands were alive in kicking in Latin America long before the arrival of Marquez, Borges et al.
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