Letter from São Paulo
In the first of a series of reports from Brazil, Virna Teixeira introduces her native city and its contemporary poetry scene.
Located in the southeast of Brazil, São Paulo is one of the five more populous cities in the world, with a population of more than 18 million people. It has all the problems of a big city, particularly of a third world one, including the heavy traffic and social inequality, but it is a very cosmopolitan place to live. Immigrants that included Europeans (mainly from Italy and Spain), Japanese, people of Syrian and Lebanese descent and a number of Jews came to São Paulo in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century drawn in part by the coffee boom, as well as the effects of the world wars elsewhere. Internal migration from other parts of Brazil in search of better economic and educational conditions still continues today.
São Paulo is the largest city in South America, the main business centre in Brazil and arguably the most important centre for arts and literature. The cultural life of São Paulo is intense and the contemporary poetry scene has been an active one in the last few years. The reopening of the official building Casa das Rosas (literally the “house of roses”), a mansion on Avenida Paulista, one of the main avenues in São Paulo, has stimulated considerable activity. The Casa das Rosas is run by the poet and literary critic, Frederico Barbosa, who (supported by the state government) created the Haroldo de Campos space, in tribute to the Brazilian poet who died in 2003. Frederico Barbosa works with a team of young poets and, together, they have organized a widely varied series of contemporary poetry readings, debates, events and workshops.
Casa das Rosas is a good starting point to talk about the poetry scene in São Paulo. It is a democratic place, that welcomes very diverse events, from those with an international flavour, such as Scottish poet Liz Lochhead’s poetry reading there (sponsored by the British Council) to more local events such as readings by as the Cooperifa poets. Cooperifa is a cultural cooperative organized by poet Sergio Vaz in a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Cooperifa's poets meet weekly in a local bar, Zé do batidão, for open mic nights of readings that attract large crowds of people. Their style is very informal, sometimes with influence of cordel, a Northeastern troubadour type of poetry and rhythm and also of hip-hip and rap. Itau Cultural Institute has published an anthology, O rastilho da polvora and a CD, Sarau da cooperifa.
Other recent milestones have included a neobaroque poetry reading and book launch with Uruguayan poet Victor Sosa, Peruvian poet Reynaldo Jimenez, and Brazilian poets and translators Horácio Costa, Claudio Daniel and Luiz Roberto Guedes. Neobaroque is a Latin America aesthetic that started in Cuba with Lezama Lima in the 1940s. The term was coined by Haroldo de Campos in the 1950s and gained wider currency in 1980s with Severo Sarduy, Néstor Perlongher, Roberto Echavarren and José Kozer, amongst others. The anthology Medusario (Fondo De Cultura Economica, 1996) is a well-known and recommended compilation of neobaroque poetry published in Mexico. Another good example is the recent anthology Jardim de Camaleões (Editora Iluminuras), organized and translated by Claudio Daniel and Luiz Roberto Guedes and published in Brazil in 2004. The theme is complex: neobaroque poets are not a homogenous "group"; rather their poetry is asymmetric, and in terms of place and language, dislocation is the rule.
Another personal highlight at the Casa das Rosas was the reading, discussion and debate with two Angolan poets, Abreu Paxe and Conceição Cristovão. Angolan poetry mixes Portuguese and African words, ethnic and mythic references with modernist and experimental influences and social themes (mainly after the 1970s). Abreu Paxe represents a kind of rupture with this tradition with his very singular syntax and freedom from political rhetoric – his poetry tends towards prose, and there is an autonomy to the words but also a cadence, a rhythm. There is a growing interest in the literary production by former African-Portuguese colonies and recently a few books by lusophone authors have been edited in Brazil.
A series of interviews with contemporary poets, “breaking the silence”, organized together with professor Vicente Pietroforte from the University of São Paulo, has also attracted attention as the poets are interviewed by literature students and the audience participates directly with questions.
Other nearby cultural institutions, such as Itau Cultural sponsor literary events as well. For the second year in a row a virtual “literary corridor” was set up one weekend in October along Avenida Paulista, with 150 events at 15 different locations.
This diversity and full agenda in early evenings at Casa das Rosas mirrors in a sense the rhythm of São Paulo. International and national banks and companies line Avenida Paulista where Casa das Rosas is located, in the heart of a major business district.
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