Dom Casmurro 3.33 · 3.33

Having disclaimed the literal, he immediately supplies more of it — 'em segredinhos, sempre juntos', in little secrets, always together. The diminutive 'segredinhos' is doing sly work: it sounds fond, almost indulgent, while insinuating furtiveness, and 'sempre', always, quietly converts ordinary companionship into something total and suspect. He is painting a picture in soft colors, and the softness is the trap — nothing here is accusatory enough to resist, yet the whole adds up to a case.

Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.

You are reading a page of the Dom Casmurro — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.

The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.

Also on our shelves:

• Plato's Phaedrus — complete, ancient Greek
• Heraclitus, the Fragments — complete
• Dante's Inferno — Italian, canto I