"The young man came to his senses right at the foot of the door. He told the coachman to wait for him, and walked briskly the length of the corridor, climbing the stairs. The light was bleak, the stairsteps were worn out from all the feet that had trod them, the handrail was sticky; but he, in his turn, did not see nor feel anything. He blundered up the stairs and knocked. Once nobody appeared, he considered turning back. It was too late: his blood boiled with curiosity, his temples throbed; he hit the door again with one, two, three knocks. A woman emerged; it was the fortune-teller." Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was born on June 21, 1839. His father was Brazilian, and his mother, Portuguese. Machado attended a public school. He was a typographer and a proofreader, and in 1869, married Carolina Xavier de Novais. He made a name for himself in the public service, and in 1897 was elected as President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. His works embrace almost all literary genres as he was a journalist, a novel and short-story writer, a poet and a playwright. He died at home in 1908 at the age of 69. Satire, social criticism, family customs, a deep view of the soul of man are some of the elements constituting his works. Machado de Assis is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the world among literary critics.