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A classic of Brazilian literature, this text by Machado de Assis continues to be, one hundred and thirty years after its original publication, one of the most devastating observations on the insanity that science can reach. As vibrant as it is pleasurable to read, The Alienist is one of those jewels of fiction in world literature. A doctor, Simão Bacamarte becomes interested in psychiatry, starting a study on madness in Itaguaí, where he founds the Green House - a typical nineteenth-century asylum - recruiting human guinea pigs for his experiments. What follows is a surprising and current story in its debate about deviations and normality, madness and reason.