In this satirical novella by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, a brilliant physician relocates to his hometown in Brazil and convinces the council to build the region’s first madhouse. Rebellion stirs when, having incarcerated all the truly insane, the overzealous doctor begins to lock up townspeople who are eccentric or unusually talented. As the number of inmates reaches 80% of the population, the doctor decides upon a new definition of madness. Everyone is released, new townspeople are taken in and treated, until eventually only one “madman” remains. Themes insanity, ambition, scientific fallibility, abuse of power, self-serving politics, revolution and counter-revolution.
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