Urban Voices (1999)

Urban Voices: Contemporary Short Stories from Brazil, edited with an introduction by Cristina Ferreira-Pinto, was published by University Press of America in 1999. It collects stories by Brazilian writers in English translation, among them Rubem Fonseca's "The Art of Walking in the Streets of Rio de Janeiro" (copyright 1992, translated by Clifford E. Landers), whose Augusto walks the city day and night and writes his book in the small hours. (Open Library)

Watches

Casio (unidentified model): In Fonseca's story, Augusto's Casio Melody plays Haydn's Mit dem Paukenschlag, the Surprise Symphony, at exactly three in the morning, his signal to go home and write (p. 79). Hiding in the Campo de Santana at closing time, he waits for its beep, retreats into the grotto, and turns off the sound (p. 92); at daybreak he presses one of the buttons on the watch to bring back the small bell drawn on the dial, and hears the beep as the guards open the gates (p. 93). Another night it plays the three a.m. music and he walks on to the Mineiros pier instead (p. 112). The story begins on p. 78. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: When day breaks, Augusto presses one of the buttons on his watch, bringing back the drawing of a small bell on the dial. He hears a beep. (Rubem Fonseca, "The Art of Walking in the Streets of Rio de Janeiro", trans. Clifford E. Landers, in Urban Voices, scan cataloged as University Press of America, 1999, p. 93; Internet Archive scan OCR)