Buy the right edition!

English A1 HL—Berg, Pfeiffer, and Sweetman
Year Two, First Semester 2008
Vacation Reading and Assignment
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(Bentinho, Dom Casmurro, 111)
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(Iago to Othello, Othello, 3.3.195-200)
The above quotes tie together three texts in the English A1 HL curriculum. We began with Peter Robb’s
A Death in Brazil: A Book of Omissions, which not only borrowed Machado’s phrase for the subtitle, but
includes Bentinho’s quote at the beginning of that work of creative nonfiction. In those discussions we
analyzed the role of a narrator and his subjectivity. The quote from Shakespeare’s 1622 tragedy is a
fitting transition into our Vacation Reading, Machado de Assis’s 1899 realist novel, Dom Casmurro. The
novel alludes to Othello, and its narrator is the husband who feels he has been wronged.
Over the vacation please do the following things and return to our first class in August with them
completed:
1. Enjoy reading Dom Casmurro. One of the foundational novels of Brazilian and Latin
American literature, the novel is an important text beyond this country and continent. Machado
explores jealousy from the (literal) point of view of the husband; you will marvel at his use of
the unreliable narrator and tone.
2. Annotate any three chapters of the novel. There are 148 chapters in the novel (don’t
panic—most are short). After you read the novel, go back and choose three chapters that you
would like to explore in more depth. Engage with Machado with comments on content and
form. Underline important passages. Highlight or box words that you either don’t know or
words that you find provocative. In the margins ask questions, make comments and find
connections.
3. Answer the questions on the 95 Questions handout. You do not need to write full
sentences (there isn’t much space), but you need to respond to ALL of them with notes and
ideas, along with page references.
We will collect your novel and check your annotations of the three chapters, along with the 95
Questions handout, when we return from our holiday. It will be your first grade of the first quarter, so
do your best and start the year well. Remember, too, that many of you will choose to use Dom
Casmurro for your World Literature Paper Two next year, and that it is one of the Part 3 novels you will
use on next May’s IB Exam. Therefore, close study of Dom Casmurro is essential.
Buy the right edition!
Dom Casmurro, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
(Library of Latin American Literature, Oxford University Press)
(ISBN: 0-19-510309-2) can be purchased at Livraria Cultura or
online at www.livrariacultura.com.br/gradedschool.
Books must be with you the first day of class.