Machado de Assis
Quincas Borba
"Quincas Borba" by Machado de Assis is a novel serialized between 1886 and 1891, then published in book form in 1892. The story follows Rubião, a naive provincial man who inherits a fortune from philosopher Quincas Borba and becomes entangled with an ambitious couple in Rio de Janeiro. As Rubião falls hopelessly in love with the manipulative Sofia, he gradually loses both his wealth and his sanity, embodying the harsh principles of "Humanism"—a fictional philosophy where survival means defeating others.