Epitaph of a Small Winner, The Best Book You've Never Heard Of

That weasel Woody Allen – the piddlingest man ever to become a lady-killer – included Epitaph of a Small Winner on his list of five favorite all time books over at The Daily Beast, and I once again find myself applauding his artistic sensibilities in spite of his diminutive, incestuous, over-the-top Jewish neurotic tendencies (which explains the lady-killing, really). Epitaph of a Small Winner should be on more top five lists. It's on mine. And Susan Sontag wrote an ecstatic introduction to the English translation, so now you don't even have to take my and Woody's word for it.

Written by the 19th century Brazilian author Machado de Assis, the novel pops up from time to time in the general literary consciousness, enough to remain in print but hardly enough to be considered even a cult favorite.

I discovered it in much the same way as Allen – he stumbled upon it in his mailbox, I stumbled upon it in a used bookstore. Who knows what prompted me to buy it. I don't usually buy books that I have never ever heard of. It was probably the Sontag stamp of approval, if I'm being honest.

Unfortunately, Woody doesn't have much of use to say about the novel – “It's a very, very original piece of work.” Well, yes. It's also heartbreaking and cavalier at the same time, which most of my favorite things are and which I think is a real feat. Sontag summarizes the sentiment like this: “Epitaph of a Small Winner is probably one of those thrillingly original, radically skeptical books which will always impress readers with the force of a private discovery.”

By the way, it isn't really called Epitaph of a Small Winner. The direct translation is more like Posthumous Diaries of Braz Cubas. But I like Epitaph of a Small Winner better – in this case, the faulty outshines the precise. Like champagne! Sontag calls the English title “interfering,” but I still like it. It's okay to disagree with Susan Sontag! Champagne!