o Alienista is a classic piece of Brazilian literature, written by Machado de Assis and published in 1882 as part of the Papéis Avulsos.

The story is quite funny as Machado de Assis was adept at presenting social commentary through humor. Set in 18th century rural Brazil, the plot centers on an obsessive-compulsive doctor’s attempts to study mental illness and father children. In order to accomplish the first of these goals the doctor creates a sanitarium, the Casa Verde, and one-by-one commits the general public of the town to the facility. A hilarious aspect of the story is that in order to father children, the doctor, Simão Bacamarte, marries a homely woman simply because she has good hygiene which leads him to believe she ought to bear healthy children.

The audiobook and full text are located on the Bibvirt virtual library project website. Explore this site as their are innumerable resources to be found here.