quarta-feira, abril 30, 2008

John Milton

John Milton
John Milton was born in London in 1608 (seven and a half years before the death of Shakespeare). His grandfather was a Roman Catholic who had disowned Milton's father when the latter turned Protestant. The boy was sent to St Paul's school, perhaps when twelve, perhaps earlier. From the beginning, Milton was an eager student (he tells us that from the time he was twelve, he seldom stopped reading before midnight), and he learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and began to try to write verse. In 1625 he enrolled at Christ's College, Cambridge, clashed with his tutor the following year and was suspended, returned and was given another tutor, and graduated on schedule. The University in those days still undertook to teach largely by rote memorization, and Milton thought his training there of little value. He undertook to give himself a liberal education by wide reading. His father had hoped to make a lawyer of him, but took it very well when his son announced that he intended to make the writing of poetry his life's work.
In 1629 (when he was 21 years old) he wrote a short poem, "On the morning of Christ's Nativity," his first memorable work, still widely read at Christmas.
A few years later, he wrote a masque (or mask), which was presented in 1634, at Ludlow Castle, near the Welsh border, in honor of the Earl of Bridgewater.
In August 1637, a classmate of Milton's, Edward King, who had written some poetry himself, was drowned, and several of his friends resolved to write poems in his memory and publish a collection of them. Milton was asked to contribute. His poem was called Lycidas.
Between 1641 and 1660, Milton wrote almost no poetry. This was the time when the English Puritans were setting out to overthrow the English monarchy on the grounds that it was levying taxes unlawfully (and was, moreover, in league with the wicked English Church), and to overthrow the English Church on the grounds that, while nominally breaking with Rome, it had retained many Romish customs, such as white gowns for the clergy (instead of the black gowns worn by Puritan clergy, which were obviously more seemly) and that the English Church was therefore just as bad as the Church or Rome (and was, moreover, in league with the wicked English monarchy). Milton believed wholeheartedly in the Puritan cause, and set aside his poetry to write pamphlets in defense of various aspects of liberty as he saw it.
One work that Milton wrote but never published was a theological treatise called De Doctrina Christiana ("On Christian Doctrine"). It is for the most part straightforward Protestant theology, but includes some departures from the mainstream position, and Milton carefully labels them as such. First, and most seriously, Milton was an Arian. That is, he believed that the Father exists eternally, and that He begat the Son (and "before he was begotten, he was not"), and that the Son then created the physical universe. Thus, the Son is far from being a mere human. He is the second greatest of all things. But he is not co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, and is not, in the fullest sense, God. Since the publication of the Doctrina in 1825, critics have looked for indications of heretical beliefs in Milton's Paradise Lost and other published works. Such indications, if they are there, are few, minor, obscure, and doubtful. It is not even certain that Arianism was Milton's settled view. A man writing a paper for his own eyes, to clarify or examine his views, may very well set forth in it the case for a position that he does not hold, simply to see what can be said for it.
In 1642, at the age of 33, Milton married Mary Powell, a girl of 16 from a royalist family. Her family had been large and sociable. Milton's was small and studious. In a few months, she went home to her family. Milton reacted by writing a treatise, "On the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce," in which he argued that incompatibility of temperament and personality was a sufficient reason for dissolving a marriage. Both Royalists and Puritans found the idea disgraceful, and the pamphlet had no discernible effect in Milton's day. However, it is noteworthy for the importance that Milton here attaches to friendship and companionship and the meeting of minds (as opposed to the mere meeting of bodies) as an essential ingredient in a successful marriage. In 1645 friends brought about a reconciliation, and Mary returned to her husband. In 1646, when the Civil War had gone against the Royalists and the Powells were homeless, he took the ten of them into his own home for a year. Mary bore John three daughters, and died in 1652.
In 1644, Milton published two pamphlets much admired today. The first was called "Of Education," and outlines a course of study for producing an enlightened citizenry. Studies are to include the Bible, the classics, and science. He also published in 1644 his most famous pamphlet, Areopagetica (air-ee-opp-a-JET-i-ca). Those who have read the Book of Acts in the King James translation will remember that while in Athens, Paul is said to have preached on Mars' Hill. In fact, he spoke before the Areopagus, a council of citizens that got its name from its meeting place, a temple of Ares (or Mars), and that was responsible for censorship and the safeguarding of public morals. Milton's pamphlet was written in protest against the setting up by the Cromwell government of a board of Censorship for all printed works. It is an eloquent and forceful argument for freedom of the press. Every college library or large public library will normally have a copy, and most large bookstores will have a paperback copy or be able to order one.
Milton's dismay on finding that the new revolutionary government, undertaken in the name of liberty, could be just as intolerant of dissent as the monarchy it replaced, found expression not only in the "Areopagetica," but also in poetry. He wrote a 24-line poem titled, "On the new forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament," ending with the line, "New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large."
In February 1649, just after the beheading of King Charles I, Milton published a pamphlet called "the Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," arguing that power resides in the people, who may give it to governors, but are free to withdraw it again. He was invited to become Secretary for Foreign Languages in Cromwell's Council of State. As such, he continued to write pamphlets defending the Republic, the killing of the King, and the rule of Cromwell. He was no mere server of those in power. He was still publishing a month before Charles II was brought back from exile to take the throne, at a time when it must have been obvious that the cause was lost, when every consideration of personal safety demanded that he adopt a policy of silence, if not of outright reversal of position.
After 1660, with the monarchy restored, Milton's political dreams lay in ruins under the double blow of the collapse of the Puritan Republic and the failure of said republic to uphold freedom while it lasted. Milton retired to private life and returned to his true vocation, the writing of poetry. He had gone blind while serving as secretary to Cromwell, and now sat composing his poems in his head, and dictating each day to his daughters the portion that he had composed. It was in this retirement that he produced his three long poems, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. He died 8 November 1674.
So much for a summary of Milton's life. Now for comments on some of his poems.
Paradise Lost: Milton's Long Epic
By far his best-known poem is Paradise Lost, an epic in twelve books in the tradition of Virgil's Aeneid, recounting the story of Satan's rebellion against God, and of the disobedience and fall of Adam and Eve, led astray by Satan's lies. The story of Satan's rebellion is not found in the Bible, except in passing allusions capable of more than one interpretation. I will therefore pause to sketch the story as it was generally accepted in Milton's day.
Satan, originally called Lucifer ("light-bearer") was one of the greatest of the angelic beings who serve God in Heaven. However, every created being with intellect and will has a choice whether to put God first or to put himself first, and Satan chose to put himself first. He was not content to be a subordinate. He proposed to be equal to the Most High. (See Isaiah 14:12-15, a passage which probably refers to the King of Babylon (see verse 3), but which has often been applied to Satan.) He rebelled against God, and persuaded one third of the angels to join him. (The number is based on Revelation 12:4, where a dragon is said to draw one third of the stars out of heaven. If we take the dragon to be Satan, and the stars to be angels, we get the result. However, there are numerous references on the book of Revelation to the destruction of one third of something or other, and it is arguable that this is a conventional poetic expression rather than a statistic.) In Milton's account (I am not sure whether this particular idea is Milton's own invention), the event that rouses Satan to rebellion is God's proclamation of His only Son as the ruler of all created things, to whom all angels and the whole universe must pay homage. God says in this connection:
This day have I begot whom I declare,
My only Son....
This is a quotation from Psalm 2:7, which in some manuscripts is quoted in connection with the Baptism of Christ. If we take "beget" as "bring into existence," this would mean that the Son is created after the angels, which is nonsense, since Milton makes it explicit that it is only through the Son that the angels and all other things are created (John 1:3). However, the Hebrew verb "yalad", translated "beget", also has the meaning of "to publicly acknowledge as one's heir." Thus, when we are told (Genesis 50:23) that Joseph's great-grandchildren were begotten on Joseph's knees, this does not mean what you are thinking. It means that soon after the child was born, Joseph, in his capacity as head of the family, took the child on his knees and accepted it before witnesses as a member of the family.
So, God the Father proclaims the glory of the Son and commands all the angels to worship Him (see Hebrews 1:6). At this Satan rebels, and leads other angels into rebellion with him. They fight against the loyal angels, led by Michael, and are defeated and cast out of Heaven (see Revelation 12:7-9). Satan, who has heard rumors that God intends to create a race of humans, then plots to obtain his revenge by destroying their happiness and their delighted obedience to God. And the rest of the story is found in Genesis chapters 2 and 3, except that these chapters make no mention of Satan, and say simply that the sepent deceived Eve. Milton tells us that the serpent was really Satan disguised as a serpent.
The modern reader of this poem is likely to run into two general sorts of difficulties.
First, he may not understand what sort of poem Milton is writing, or the basic ideas underlying the poem. For this, the best remedy I know is the book, A Preface To Paradise Lost, by C S Lewis. It is available in hardback and in paperback (Oxford University Press), and should be in any large library. I suggest reading it before reading the poem, or after reading the poem, or sandwiched between sessions of reading the poem. In addition to discussing the literary background of the poem, its roots in Homer and Virgil and in Beowulf, the reasons for the style of the poem, and so on, Lewis discusses the character of Satan, the implications of his choice, and so on. It is a valuable antidote to the work of many modern critics who say that Satan is the real hero of the poem, and that he deserves our admiration (and had Milton's) for rebelling against the "establishment."
Second, the reader may find himself bewildered by the many references and allusions that Milton throws out. If your copy of Milton has footnotes explaining all the references, fine. If it doesn't, just keep reading and don't worry about them. For example, in line 15 of the poem, Milton tells us that his epic will soar "above the Aonian Mount." If you have a profusely footnoted edition, you will be told that this mount is Helicon, in Boetia, a mountain sacred to the Muses and therefore a symbol of poetic inspiration. If you do not have any footnotes, and do not already know about Helicon, there is really no problem. You gather from the context that Milton means that he is promising you a first-rate poem, a poem that will fly, a poem that will lift your imagination to behold great things. And, as you read on, you will find that he keeps his promise.
And so the poem begins:
Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
brought death into the world, and all our woe
(with loss of Eden, till one greater Man
restore us, and regain the blissful seat),
sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
of Horeb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
that Shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
in the beginning how the heavens and earth
rose out of Chaos, or if Zion's hill
delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
fast by the oracle of God; I thence
invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
that with no middle flight intends to soar
above the Aonian Mount, while it pursues
things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
instruct me, for Thou knowest; Thou from the first
wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
dove-like satst brooding o'er the vast abyss
and madest it pregnant: what in me is dark
illumine, what is low, raise and support,
that to the height of this great argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
and justify the ways of God to men.

Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from Thy view
Nor the deep tract of Hell, say first what cause
moved our grand parents in that happy state,
favored of Heaven so highly, to fall off
from their Creator, and transgress His will,
for one restraint, lords of the World besides?
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
The infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile
stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
the mother of mankind, what time his pride
had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring
to set himself in glory above his peers,
he trusted to have equalled the Most High,
if he opposed; and with ambitious aim
against the throne and monarchy of God
raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud
with vain attempt.
Him the Almighty Power
hurled headlong flaming from th' eternal sky
with hideous ruin and combustion down
to bottomless perdition, there to dwell
in adamantine chains and penal fire,
who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.

Here again, if you recognize that "adamant" is an old word for "diamond," and that diamonds are among the hardest objects known, and that the adjective means "extraordinarily hard, unyielding," so much the better. But if you do not know this, you will still get the idea that "adamantine chains" are special, and that anyone bound with adamantine chains has a real problem. And that is all you really need to know. Again, you may feel that Milton's sentences are much too long and complicated for you, that it is a real effort to disentangle them. But again, you will find that this is not a problem. Milton carefully introduces his ideas in the order in which he wants you to encounter them. In lines 6-10 we read
Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Horeb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
that shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
in the beginning, how the heavens and earth
rose out of chaos....
The reference is to Moses, to whom God spoke on Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai (considered to be two names for the same mountain), and who is considered to be the author of the book of Genesis, and in particular of the account of Creation in Genesis 1. But if you miss this reference, you still have a mental picture of a secret mountain top, followed by a glimpse of a wise shepherd, followed by a pisture of the heavens and the earth rising out of chaos. And this is the icture sequence that Milton wants you to have here. So, if you do not have footnotes, and do not have as much classical background as you would like to have, don't worry, just read and enjoy. Even if you have footnotes, I suggest ignoring them at first reading. Consulting them will break your concentration, will interrupt the flow of the poem and not give it a chance to speak to you.
So set aside some time and read Milton's Paradise Lost, and with it C S Lewis's A Preface To Paradise Lost. You'll be glad you did.
Comus: Milton's Masque

A masque is a particular kind of theatrical performance, traditionally performed before royalty or other distinguished persons, in which the characters of the drama usually wear masks and represent abstract qualities. Those of you who saw the six-part series on public television called The Six Wives of Henry VIII (starring Keith Mitchell) and the following six-part series called Elizabeth R (starring Glenda Jackson) will remember that Play 6 (I think) of the latter series opens with a brief portion of a masque being presented before Queen Elizabeth (Tudor), in which the speaker is Death. A friend of mine wrote a masque in 1955 or thereabouts to be presented at Oxford before the present Queen. Some of the characters represented Peace, Prosperity, and the like, while others represented Tyranny abroad and Discord and Idleness (=Unemployment) at home, and after each had given suitable speeches, Tyranny, Discord, and Idleness announced that they had been defeated and would surrender and go quietly away. Obviously, it is not meant to be judged by the criteria that one would apply to an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Milton's play (to which he gave no title except "A Masque") was performed at Ludlow Castle near the Welsh border, before the lord of that castle, the Earl of Bridgewater. The roles of the humans in the play were performed by the Earl's 15-year-old daughter and her brothers, 9 and 11. (Their tutor, Mr. Lawes, was a friend of Milton's.) The play concernes a young lady who is travelling through the forest with her brothers to reach her father's castle. She meets an evil spirit called Comus (the son of Circe and Bacchus) who is disguised as a simple shepherd and offers her the hospitality of his humble cottage for the night. He thus traps her and tries to persuade her to drink from a magic chalice, which turns all who drink from it into beasts. (It probably symbolizes unchastity.) He argues that Nature has filled the world with pleasures, and that it is ungrateful to refuse the gifts of Nature. The Lady replies that gluttony and starvation are not the only options, and that the right choice is the temperate and wise use of Nature's gifts in accordance with the ends for which Nature's God created them. The evil spirit is defeated, the Lady freed, and she and her brothers are led safely to the castle, their goal (whether Ludlow Castle, or Heaven, or both).
Lycidas: Milton's Pastoral Elegy
Edward King was a fellow student of Milton's, a Puritan youth who had written some poetry and was intending to become a preacher. He was on a ship in the Irish Sea when it sank, and he was drowned. Several of his friends decided to write poems in his memory and publish the collection. Milton's contribution, Lycidas, belongs to a tradition going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is a pastoral. That is, the poet and the persons he writes about are all treated as shepherds (or shepherdesses) living in the hillsides and pastures of ancient Greece. Edward King is renamed Lycidas, and Milton mourns his death.
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer:
Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew
himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not float upon his watery bier
unwept, and welter to the parching wind
without the meed of some melodious tear....
Now thou art gone, and never must return!
Thee, shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves
with wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown,
and all their echoes mourn....
The mourner goes on to ask the proper response to the knowledge that anyone can die at any time, with all his goals unachieved. Ought we to seek pleasure and forget all else? Is fame worth pursuing, and does it really convey a kind of immortality? And so through many like questions, hinted at rather than stated explicitly, so that much of the poem is not so much an examination of Milton's uncertainties as a device to bring to the forefront some of the uncertainties lurking in the mind of the reader. (A footnoted edition helps, since it is worth knowing, for example, that the site of King's drowning was overlooked (from a distance) by a mountain with a statue of the Archangel Michael--hence the reference to the "guarded mount" and the plea, "Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth." However, not knowing this should not spoil the poem for you. You do not have to know very much about Eleanor Rigby to enjoy the Beatles' song of that name.) Finally, the poet compares Lycidas to the sun, which sinks only to rise again, and then concludes on an explicitly Christian note of comfort.
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,
Through the dear might of him that walked the waves
He speaks of Lycidas in Heaven, where all tears are wiped from his eyes, and closes with the image of the shepherd, his mourning for Lycidas ended, arising and going on his way comforted.
The poem is just under 200 lines long. One critic has said: "It may be the most beautiful short poem in the language."
Paradise Regained: Milton's Short Epic

After writing about the fall of the human race through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, Milton undertook to write about the restoration of the human race through the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. His short epic, Paradise Regained, does not deal with the Crucifixion, but with the Temptation in the wilderness, and the epic features a debate between Christ and Satan, just as Paradise Lost features a debate between Abdiel and Satan, and another between Eve and Satan, and the Masque a debate between Comus and the Lady, and the twin poems L'allegro and IL Penseroso a debate between merriment and thoughtfulness, and Lycidas between competing possible responses to life and death, and Samson Agonistes debates between Samson and the Danites, Samson and Manoah, Samson and Delilah, and Samson and Harapha. The alert reader may detect a pattern here.
Christ triumphs over Satan, rejecting his temptations and refuting his arguments. When Satan withdraws defeated, the angels hail the triumph of Christ, and bid him now begin his work of reconciling and redeeming mankind.
Some critics think the poem an inferior sequel to Paradise Lost. Others think that it is even better than its predecessor. It is a different Kind of poem, and thus perhaps neither better nor worse.
Samson Agonistes: Milton's Tragedy

While Paradise Lost is written in the manner of Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, the story of the events leading up to the founding of the city of Rome, Samson Agonistes (ag-o-NIS-teez) is written in the manner of the Greek tragedies. The story of Samson is found in the Book of Judges, 13-16. Milton's drama covers only the last few hours of Samson's life, when, after a lifetime of being undefeatable in battle and irresistible in strength, and a lifetime of misusing and wasting the powers that God had given him for the deliverance of his people from the Philistines, he has lost everything, and is a blinded captive and slave. In his captivity, he is visited by his father Manoah, by spokesmen for his tribe, by his wife Dalila (Delilah), and by a Philistine warrior Harapha. By his dialogue with each in turn he moves slowly from self-pity and despair to renewed trust that God has accepted his repentance and has work for him to do. Finally, acting in accordance with what he takes to be the will of God, he sacrifices his own life in destroying the chief oppressors of his people, and so achieves in death more than he had in life.
Some critics think this Milton's best work. Almost all are agreed that it is by far the best English tragedy ever written on the Greek model. No other work comes close.
PRAYER (traditional language):
Almighty Father, who didst move thy servant John Milton to sing Of man's disobedience and spiritual death, and of the perfect obedience of thy Son Jesus Christ, by which we are restored to life and wholeness: Mercifully grant to us thy servants that we may praise thee according to our abilities, and may always be found obedient to thy will, walking in the footsteps of the same thy well-beloved Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.
PRAYER (contemporary language):
Almighty Father, who moved your servant John Milton to sing of Man's disobedience and spiritual death, and of the perfect obedience of your Son Jesus Christ, by which we are restored to life and wholeness: Mercifully grant to us your servants that we may praise you according to our abilities, and may always be found obedient to your will, walking in the footsteps of your well-beloved Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
FONTE: http://justus.anglican.org/

Judô: Técnico da Sogipa viaja para Belo Horizonte

Outros
Judô: Técnico da Sogipa viaja para Belo Horizonte
30/04/2008 - 18:03:04 - por FS - AI Judô RS
O diretor técnico da Federação Gaúcha de Judô, Antônio Carlos Pereira, o Kiko, embarca para Belo Horizonte nesta quinta-feira, 1º de maio, onde irá integrar a comissão técnica da Seleção Brasileira. Kiko, que também é o coordenador técnico da equipe Oi/Sogipa e dos campeões mundiais, João Derly e Tiago Camilo, e da revelação, Mayra Aguiar, foi convocado pela CBJ e irá auxiliar na preparação dos brasileiros que disputarão a etapa nacional da Copa do Mundo, sob coordenação de Ney Wilson.

Além do técnico, João Derly, Tiago Camilo, Mayra Aguiar e Rochele Nunes serão os atletas que representarão o Rio Grande do Sul na competição. O evento será transmitido ao vivo pelos canais Sportv, a partir das 10h e das 18h, nos dias 3 e 4 de maio. Derly e Rochele sobem no tatame no sábado, 3. Tiago e Mayra lutam no dia seguinte.
FONTE: Final Sports - Porto Alegre,Brazil
http://www.finalsports.com.br/

An original artist, Manoel de Barros, is a poet specializing in the little things.

Brazzil
September 1999
Brazilian Literature
Beyond
the Pantanal
An original artist, Manoel de Barros, is a poet specializing in the little things.
José Geraldo Couto
At 82, with a new book out, Retrato do artista quando coisa (A portrait of the artist as a thing), 81 pages, Manoel de Barros can no longer be referred to as simply the "poet of the Pantanal". With 14 books published since 1937, today he is renowned by his critics as one of the great names of contemporary Brazilian poetry. Each year his popularity increases since being discovered by the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo hub of intelligence in the 80s. His work has been referred to as ecological, earthy and primitive. Of these labels the only one he appreciated was the last.
"One day they called me primitive:/ I was in ecstasy" he describes in one of the poems in his latest book. The truth is, the image most incorrect that one could have of Manoel de Barros, is one of a poet dedicated to singing the praises of the scenery and wildlife of the Pantanal. As he has reiterated uncountable times, his interest has returned to the small, humble, underrated things by the utilitarian reason in our society. The beings that his poetry is filled with are periwinkles, rocks, frogs, slugs, salamanders and at times, a heron.
"I was born with the vision from below" he summarized in Retrato do artista quando coisa. But it is not with the spirit of a photographer or entomologist with which he encompasses these beings, but rather with the objective of reaching the "epiphany of transformation", in other words, an illumination of the sacred mystery of life. The search is less intellectual than it is spiritual. Without mocking the solemnity of the poetry ("A poem, before anything else, is unuseful," he wrote in Arranjos para assobio (Arrangements to whistle) in 1982), Manoel de Barros agrees that it was an essential work in the search for knowledge.
As all great artists, Manoel does not conform to the incompleteness of man (which nevertheless he considers "the greatest asset") and their incapacity to integrate with the anonymous flow of nature. An artist's utopia is greater than all others': to abolish the distance between the subject who sees the universe and their actual universe. Verses suggesting "nature becomes sick of us" (O livro das ignorãças (The book of ignorance)) and commenting "It's necessary to be in the state of a tree" (Retrato do artista quando coisa) are most characteristic of the poet which suggest a wish to erase the limits between man and other beings of the world. The root of the impulse towards cosmic integration—very similar to searching for "satori" in Zen-Buddhism or enlightenment—results in an absolute overthrow of syntax, which is seen as a form of imprisonment of analogous words through the domestication of beings by everyday logic.
An example of this tendency to overcome the barriers of language are the verses: "Where the river starts a fish, / river me thing / river me frog / river me tree" (O livro das ignorãnças). Nouns that become verbs, verbs that become adjectives—in the literature of Manoel de Barros the language is considered a live organism, fluid, unobstructed. His power of synthesis and condensing is each time greater—because of this his poems and books continue to diminish in size.
Unique
Life
To arrive at the linguistic liberty and at the same time the formal purification, was a long road. The angle Manoel de Barros has on life is as individual as his poetry. Born in Cuiabá in 1916, he was raised as a farm boy, amongst the country animals on the rivers of the Pantanal region. He studied in a private school, but at a young age was already familiar with the great cities, beginning in Rio de Janeiro. In the 1930s, at the age of 20, he undertook an adventurous trip that included Bolivia and New York. He published his first book at 21 in 1937: Poemas concebidos sem pecado (Poems conceived without sin). No one noticed.
In the following decade, while living in Rio de Janeiro, he married Stella, the daughter of Minas Gerais farmers and his partner still today. In Rio, timid and withdrawn, he was unable to get close to the literary resources of the era. One interesting episode illustrates his situation. One day he got up the courage and found the home of his greatest idol, the poet Manuel Bandeira. "I knocked on the door of his apartment in Esplanada do Castelo, a neighborhood in Rio—and I waited, trembling with emotion. And, when the poet waited to open the door, I broke out running for the stairs, six or seven floors, with a pulse of 120, surely", he reported in an interview.
On another occasion, in the Pantanal, he was introduced to Guimarães Rosa, who visited the region. Timidly, Manoel exchanged information with the author of Sagarana regarding the animals and regional dialect of the Pantanal. The conversation was not very long, but the affinity between the two writers was evident. Manoel de Barros—who often is referred to as the "Guimarães Rosa of poetry"—confesses that it has taken a lot of strength to not succumb to the influence of the fictionist from Minas Gerais. Along with the books that he still plans to publish, there is a reconstitution, half true, half invented of his dialog with Rosa.
In 1949, with the death of his father, Manoel de Barros saw himself at a crossroads. He had to choose between continuing in Rio, anonymous and isolated, discretely publishing his books from time to time or return to the Pantanal region, to take care of the land he inherited from his father, in the Corumbá area. By his wife's suggestion, they became farmers.
Ever since, Manoel de Barros has divided his time between taking care of the land and creating poetry. He continued publishing his books (releasing four between 1956 and 1970), and slowly burrowed through the barrier of animosity, becoming recognized in growing circles of readers. His discovery was not ignored by the great centers of the Southeast, in 1980, when he sent his book, Arranjos para assobio, to the writer, drawer and humorist Millôr Fernandes, from Rio. Millôr liked his work so much that he personally made every effort to publicize the book amongst intellectuals and journalists in Rio. Soon after, Manoel became, in the middle of academics and great-thinkers, a type of cult author.
Newspapers and magazines began requesting interviews, in most cases with unsuccessful results. Contrary to the truth, the publicity and the social columns created a myth which referred to him as an "animal of the land" leading the life of a hermit that distanced himself from the world and only talked to animals. Beyond the initial timidness, the author manifests as amiable and talkative, capable of discussing everything from the animals of the region, to literature, cinema or plastic art—always offering his doubts wanting to avoid sounding like a professor.
Syntax ofthe Illiterate
Possibly the person who has become most captivated by the ambivalence of Manoel de Barros—a man in the confluence between beastly nature and a more refined culture—has to be the cinematographer, Joel Pizzini (Mato Grosso) who dedicated his short film, Caramujo Flor (Reticent Flower), in 1990, to the poet. The two sides of Manoel de Barros—modern and archaic, rural and urban, rustic and sophisticated—appears in the film divided into two "alter egos", one interpreted by Ney Matogrosso and the other by Rubens Correa.
The year 1990 was also the first time Manoel de Barros combined all of his work into a single volume, Gramática expositiva do chão (Expository grammar from the ground), which was almost entirely poetry, edited by Civilização Brasileira. Thanks to that collection, which has taken the title of one of his first books published in 1966, his work has become more accessible to a larger audience that was unaware of the author's first production. Thanks to this it was discovered that Manoel de Barros since his first two books—Poemas concebidos sem pecado (1937) and Face imóvel (Immovable face) (1942)—had cultivated some of the core characteristics of his work: paying attention to linguistic creations in popular speech, childhood memories, humor and irony of the literary culture, etc.
Manoel de Barros, today, spends more time in the city (Campo Grande) than on the farm. Dividing his time between talking to the general public and writing, he seeks the awkward syntax of the illiterate, the crazed and children. "The normal definition of words is not good for a poem", he wrote in O guardador de águas (The keeper of the waters) (1989). He writes every day by hand, in small notebooks. His greatest work will come later when he shapes what he has written, throwing out everything commonplace, redundant and predictable. Before he is satisfied with his poetry, his wife Stella gives her opinion of whether it is complete or needs more work.
That is how the "workshop" of one of most original poets of our time functions. The result of observation and lived experience because of an acute intelligence and an absolute generosity of words and life can be found in bookstores for all to read.
This article was originally published in Problemas Brasileiros, which can be seen on line at
FONTE: http://www.brazzil.com/

Stéphane Mallarmé, France | 1842-1898

Stéphane Mallarmé, France 1842-1898
Stéphane Mallarmé was born in Paris in 1842. He taught English in from 1864 in Tournon, Besançon, Avignon and Paris until his retirement in 1893. Malarmé began writing poetry at an early age under the influence of Charles Baudelaire.
His first poems started to appear in magazines in the 1860s. Mallarmé's most well known poems are L'Aprés Midi D'un Faun (The Afternoon of a Faun) (1865), which inspired Debussy's tone poem (1894) of the same name and was illustrated by Manet.
Among his other works are Hérodiade (1896) and Toast Funèbre (A Funeral Toast), which was written in memory of the author Théopile Gautier. Mallarmé's later works include the experimental poem Un Coup de Dés (1914), published posthumously.
From the 1880s Mallarmé was the center of a group of french writers in Paris, including André Gide and Paul Valéry, to whom he communicated his ideas on poetry and art. According to his theories, nothing lies beyond reality, but within this nothingness lies the essence of perfect forms and it is the task of the poet to reveal and crystallize these essences.
Mallarmé's poetry employs condensed figures and unorthodox syntax. Each poem is build around a central symbol, idea, or metaphor and consists on subordinate images that illustrate and help to develop the idea.
Mallarmé's vers libre and word music shaped the 1890s Decadent movement. For the rest of his life Mallarmé devoted himself to putting his literary theories into practice and writing his Grand Oeuvre (Great Work). Mallarmé died in Paris on September 9, 1898 without completing this work.
FONTE: http://www.ubu.com/

Orgulho de ser italiano

Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-18282?l=portuguese
Orgulho de ser italiano
Exposição enfoca mestres do século XIX
Por Elizabeth Lev
CIDADE DO VATICANO, quarta-feira, 30 de abril de 2008 (ZENIT.org).- Universalmente considerada como o epicentro histórico de muitos movimentos artísticos, a Itália parece ter saído do mapa durante a era moderna. Mas uma nova exposição de obras de coleções de antigos papas prova que os artistas italianos do século XIX não tinham medo dos seus colegas do norte europeu.
A exposição, intitulada «A expressão italiana para 1800», explora o século que viu a Itália tornar-se uma nação unificada. Cerca de 75 trabalhos mostram o melhor que a Itália oferece daquele tempo.
Com tantas obras belas dos mais famosos artistas daquele tempo fica difícil selecionar alguma para destacar. Durante a visita, o primeiro sinal de que será um espetáculo aparece quando se alcança o topo da escadaria e se vê um aglomerado de pessoas disputando espaço. "The Fourth Estate" (Il Quarto Stato), de Pelizza da Volpedo, um dos quadros mais emblemáticos do seu tempo, foi trazido para a exposição.
A dramática obra (de cerca de 3 x 5 metros) representa os trabalhadores da Itália marchando para o futuro. Eles deixam a escuridão do problemático século para trás, a passos largos, alguns confiantes, outros nem tanto, em direção à luz.
Pelizza usou uma técnica chamada divisionismo, uma versão italiana do impressionismo, privilegiando a bela captação dos efeitos de luz dos franceses enquanto preserva a forte tradição italiana do figurativismo.
A Itália começou o século XIX sob o jugo de Napoleão. O auto-denominado imperador tinha dividido a Itália para os membros de sua família, dando Florença para sua irmã, o Reino de Nápoles para o seu irmão e fazendo seu enteado Eugene Beauharnais rei da Itália, um estado formado entre Veneza e Milão.
Após tomar todas as coleções e igrejas na Itália, Napoleão afirmou que a partir daquele momento todos os bons pintores pertenciam à França. Antonio Canova rapidamente retrucou: «Nós temos homens valorosos na arte».
Andrea Appiani, a resposta italiana a Jean Louis David, pintor favorito de Napoleão, demonstra o talento italiano no desenho combinando ricos efeitos de cores associados em tudo com Veneza, em seus retratos e cenas mitológicas.
O Congresso de Viena em 1814 trouxe o fim da dominação francesa da Itália e a restauração da monarquia. A Itália, no entanto, deparou com uma nova força estrangeira, os invasores austríacos.
Inicia o período romântico italiano. A Itália começa a formular sonhos de independência. As histórias de velhos heróis e dramáticas insurreições trouxeram novos alvos para os pincéis. Após a primeira rebelião contra a Áustria ter sido brutalmente suprimida, Alessandro Manzoni escreveu “I Promessi Sposi”, história de amor durante a ocupação estrangeira e perseguição no século XVII em Milão, com a intenção de refletir o próprio tempo.
Francesco Hayez, a maior contribuição italiana à arte do século XIX, começou sua carreira nesse anos pintando "Lampugnani Conspiracy," que aborda o assassinato do tirano duque de Milão em 1476.
A carreira de Hayez se desenvolveria durante todo o século e seu traço preciso e cores vivazes ilustrariam grande eventos e personagens. Seu retrato de Alessandro Manzoni é uma das estrelas da exposição, ao lado de seu mais famoso trabalho, "O beijo".
A Itália almejando uma identidade nacional, o interesse pela pintura de beleza única da paisagem italiana cresceu grandemente. Grande expoente desse gênero foi Macchiaoli. Em grande parte baseados em Florença, esses pintores captaram a luminosidade das vilas e paisagens rurais que ainda hoje encantam os turistas.
Mas o século XIX foi um tempo de revolução e derramamento de sangue. Os trabalhadores italianos que amavam sua terra e sua história lutaram tanto contra os inimigos austríacos como entre eles próprios. Grupos secretos como os Carbonari fomentaram rebeliões, enquanto o líder Giuseppe Mazzini tentava convencer os italianos a unirem-se e lutar pela unificação.
Giuseppe Garibaldi emergiu como herói popular. Diferentes mestres capturaram as várias facetas do universo de Garibaldi, da imagem pacífica de Odoardo Borrani das mulheres tecendo as vestes vermelhas dos rebeldes à imagem de Domenico Induno dos desiludidos italianos lendo o boletim de paz de Villafranca.
Como uma mulher atenta a tudo que se manifeste anti-papal, eu fiquei surpresa e contente por não encontrar tons de hostilidade ou histórias de Igreja tirana. A exposição enfoca aspectos positivos, talvez sob influência do presidente do comitê expositor, Antonio Paolucci, o novo diretor dos Museus Vaticanos.
O cenário da unificação italiana no século XVIII foi a gradual dissolução do Estado Papal. Sentimentos anti-clericais se alastravam durante o tempo em que Garibaldi gritava «ou Roma ou morte», determinado a tomar Roma dos papas que a tinham governado por mais de um milênio.
Observar os italianos na exposição faz aumentar o contentamento. Enquanto repassam sua história, estudam seus heróis e admiram as obras de arte um dia vistas nas páginas dos livros escolares, eles insuflam o orgulho, reconhecendo seu papel nos grandes momentos históricos daquele tempo.
Este ano marca o sexagésimo aniversário da Constituição Italiana. A nação que conduziu a cultura visual por séculos usa a beleza da arte para enfatizar a unificação do povo italiano.
***
Nova apologia
Em «O nome da Rosa» (1980), Umberto Eco dedica um longo e erudito excerto ao questionamento: «Jesus sorriu?». Lendo os trabalhos do escritor católico John Zmirak, ele provavelmente sorriu.
John Zmirak, autor nascido no Queens, jornalista e apologista, entreteve tanto estudantes como adultos na semana passada em Roma, durante o lançamento de seu novo livro, «The Grand Inquisitor».
Eu falei com Zmirak sobre como ele reconcilia um humor agudo com uma fé firme, e fiquei fascinada ao ouvir a história de como os espinhos da dúvida brotaram no coração do Queens nos anos 70.
Durante seu tempo de estudante, seus professores de religião na escola católica local começaram a ensinar noções contrárias à fé. Ainda em formação, Zmirak absorveu as dúvidas e contradições até o dia em que lhe foi falado que a transubstanciação -- a transformação do pão e do vinho em corpo e sangue de Cristo -- não era real.
O então jovem de 15 anos hesitou, recordando vivamente sua mãe explicando que, quando a sineta tocava, “o pão se transformava em Deus” (isso, a propósito, evidencia a centralidade do papel dos pais na formação das crianças).
Zmirak encontrou o Catecismo e leu por ele mesmo aquilo que a Igreja ensinava. Indignado, o adolescente começou uma campanha de cartas ao bispo local, advertindo da indiferença e até hostilidade que ele percebia.
A peculiaridade de Zmirak o levou a graduar-se em Yale, onde ele teve de enfrentar um ambiente fortemente secular. Logo ele percebeu que não eram os argumentos racionais contra os princípios do catolicismo que enfraqueciam a fé, mas sim a ridicularização destes princípios.
Zmirak tem um ponto de vista incomum sobre o que abala a fé dos católicos na América. «Ela não foi abalada por ataques ateístas e intelectuais», ele diz. «O que abalou as pessoas foram as milhares de piadinhas e joguetes inteligentes».
Então Zmirak encontrou sua vocação. Ele pensa que, se o humor pôde ser usado contra a Igreja, também pode ser usado, em contrapartida, a favor dela.
Dois dos livros mais populares do autor são: "The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living" (“Guia dos maus católicos para viver bem”) e "The Bad Catholic's Guide to Wine, Whiskey and Song." (“Guia dos maus católicos para vinho, uísque e música”). Como os livretos para fraternidades de garotos, esses livros imaginam festas, games e atividades similares, todas narradas com bom humor e ancoradas na fé católica.
O guia do viver bem é dedicado ao agudo senso de humor do Papa João Paulo II. Zmirak comenta que o Papa não apenas derrubou a Cortina de Ferro, mas também ganhou corações com seus refrescantes momentos de humor.
Seu guia segue o calendário litúrgico com observações divertidas sobre as festas dos santos e idéias para celebrá-las. Nas páginas de seu livro, para cada dia há uma razão para festejar no mundo católico.
O “Guia para vinho, uísque e música” é um sucesso. De A a Z, Zmirak percorre os mais bem guardados estoques de licor imagináveis, traçando cada forma do espírito e elixir detrás de sua origem cristã. Na trilha da história, ele também apresenta canções festivas para momentos de brindar, entre outras canções.
O último esforço de Zmirak, “The Grand Inquisitor” (“O grande inquisidor”), é um novo gênero para ele, o romance gráfico. Apelidado de anti-“Anjos e Demônios”, a história se passa durante um conclave, envolve sequestros de cardeais, mas vence a causa da ortodoxia e fidelidade ao Magistério.
“The Grand Inquisitor” traz todos os traços de um bom thriller policial, mas, de forma diferente dos tradicionais livros com mensagens anti-cristãs, a história de Zmirak fundamenta-se no amor pela Igreja.
Após alguns dias com John Zmirak, torna-se claro que a fé profunda e a inteligência afiada proporcionam as bases daquilo que parece ser uma obra cômica da cristandade.* * *
Elizabeth Lev ensina arte e arquitetura cristãs no campus italiano da Duquesne University, em Roma.
[Traduzido do inglês por Alexandre Ribeiro]
FONTE: Zenit - Brazil

Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld


Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld
by Dilip Chitre

Unpublished Poems by Namdeo DhasalTranslated by Dilip Chitre
Namdeo Dhasal is one of my closest friends. This surprises many people who know him and me because of the controversies that his political activities generate and because they cannot, even by association, connect me with his political stances which have been inconsistent. He was one of the founders of Dalit Panthers in 1972, a militant activist organization, at that time inspired by the Black Panthers in the United States, or so it seemed. In some ways it fitted into the global mosaic of anger, protest, demonstrations, violence, and youthful revolutionary upsurge that swept across France, Germany, parts of Europe, Africa, America, and Asia.

But the Dalit Panthers were rooted in Bombay and were a product of the history of the city and the immigrant Dalit youth who came to it, scarred by the memories of their oppression in their native villages and small towns, and inspired by their late leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. After Ambedkar's death in the mid-1950s, his Republican Party of India was in a shambles. Small-time and self-styled Dalit leaders were either seduced by the ruling Indian National Congress or by its political rivals who desperately wooed the votes of the minorities. By 1972, the Shiv Sena had already emerged as a powerful force in Bombay, thanks again to the politics of the ruling Congress party led by Indira Gandhi that had thrust upon the unwilling Marathas a minority Chief Minister in Vasantrao Naik.

Naik was a patron of Thackeray in those days, and so were some big players in business. Following Ambedkar, many Maharashtrian Dalits had quit Hinduism to liberate themselves from a caste-system that stamped them with a lifelong lowly status. They were uncomfortable with any kind of Hindu cultural and political rhetoric. They were looking for a platform in their fight for equality and freedom.

There was an articulate Dalit avant garde that stormed the Marathi literary scene and attracted nation-wide attention. The great fiction-writer Baburao Bagul had already made his mark. Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale, Arjun Dangle, and J. V. Pawar were all young writers who wanted to shake the Marathi literary establishment at its very foundations and had in them the spirit and the talent to do so. They wanted to take their activism beyond literature and culture directly into the political arena. Yet they also knew, from the outset, that as a minority they would only be small-time players in electoral politics or even be made mere stooges. They found guerilla tactics a very attractive weapon in the ethos of the big city where the poorer neighbourhoods were ruled by organized crime and where politicians used the underworld as a source of secret weapons.

A quarter of a century has passed. The Dalit Panthers still survive and Namdeo Dhasal continues to be their leader. But today, Dalit Panthers are allied with the Shiv Sena, once their sworn arch-enemy. The post-Babri Masjid riots in Bombay and the bomb blasts that followed make the 1970s seem remote history. Crime and politics have become more sophisticated and organized, with globalisation investing a new spirit in them, and cell-phones and the internet helping them to refurbish their own self-image.

Today, Namdeo Dhasal is part of the establishment. Or is he again in disguise, still fighting his own kind of guerilla war? He lives in an upper-class neighbourhood in the western part of Mumbai, Andheri. He drives a flashy sports car. He has an armed bodyguard accompanying him wherever he goes. He uses a mobile phone. He has a constant stream of visitors seeking favours. Namdeo has contacts with the ruling politicians as well as with the opposition. Last year, for his distinguished contribution to literature he was awarded the title Padmashri by the President of India. He should have been nationally honoured a long time ago but it was during the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance's regime that he received this honour.

Nobody misses the irony in this. The Sena-BJP alliance represents all that Namdeo's writing has fiercely attacked and with remarkable consistency. During the Emergency of 1975-77, Indira Gandhi dropped all cases against him and his Dalit Panthers after he had a long meeting with her explaining his position. During that period he published one of his long poems on Indira Gandhi, a sycophantic work reminiscent of M. F. Hussain's Durga, no less. All this is true. Such acrobatics are not new in Indian politics. So who does Namdeo represent? Dalits? Or just himself? Why should he be taken seriously? I am asked these questions as though as a friend I was also his keeper. Why am I his friend? Why is he my friend? Questions of conscience. Questions of integrity. Questions of ideological consistency. Questions of honesty. Exasperating questions.
To many, Namdeo Dhasal's political 'career', if it may be called so, describes a three hundred and sixty degree course. He was, as an adolescent, attracted to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia's brand of desi socialism and he saw a great deal in common between Ambedkar's vision of a truly secular, truly socialist, pluralistic and republican, federalist India. Not educated beyond high school, Namdeo is largely self-educated. He is a voracious reader and a sharp-witted conversationist. The only languages he is fluent in are his native Marathi and that colourful Mumbai-grown hybrid Hindi with some Urdu flavouring. God knows where he picked his knowledge of contemporary poetry but he will surprise you by quoting Octavio Paz or by making references to cubism and surrealism. His own understanding of the rich and varied deeper resources of language, his insights into the art of poetry, will not fail to amaze you. He is a prodigy possessing an unschooled sophistication. Where does this come from?

Disillusioned with the Lohiate socialists, though not with Lohia the thinker, Namdeo was attracted to Marxism and was briefly drawn to the communists. He married Mallika, then only a teenager, the younger daughter of 'Shahir' ( people's bard) Amar Shaikh, who was a member of the Communist Party of India and who was a great lyricist and singer whose finest hour was during the 'Samyukta Maharashtra Movement' for a Marathi-speaking state. The great 19th century Maharashtrian social revolutionary Jotiba Phule and Ambedkar---both now officially iconised across the political spectrum---were his earliest gods and continue to be so even now, and it is difficult to reconcile them with any but the earliest Marx, not to mention later sworn Marxists such as Lenin and Mao. Anyone trying to evolve a fusion of all these finds himself or herself trapped in complexities, contradictions, and ambiguities beyond resolve. Primarily an activist, Namdeo cannot be expected to master the intellectual jugglery and trickery mere ideologues can display. All one can question is his practice of what he professes and in the Indian politics of the last fifty years, there is no leader who can really pass that sort of an acid test.

I would rather go straight into the heart of the matter. What is it that makes Namdeo a wonderful human being and an outstanding poet by any standards? For that is the very foundation of my friendship with him.


Namdeo Dhasal, the poet, was in his mid-twenties when he published his epoch-making first collection of poems Golpitha named after the notorious centre of prostitution in central Mumbai where he grew up. This was then the heart of Mumbai's underworld and even today possesses the characteristics of a neighbourhood where everything illicit, criminal, nefarious, exploitative, and inhuman finds a natural home. It is Mumbai's terminal hell-hole that much later Mira Nair found as a vivid cinematic location for her famous film Salaam Bombay. Playwright Vijay Tendulkar, who wrote the introduction to the first edition of Golpitha, was given a guided tour of the neighbourhood by Namdeo before that introduction was written. Since then Namdeo has played Virgil to many a literary Dante, though Dante was only inventing a Virgil, and Virgil was no native of the Inferno. What for other literary visitors was only a voyeuristic tour was the place where Namdeo mined his striking metaphors for hell and Tendulkar was able to perceive where the life-form of Namdeo's poetry sprang from and survived.

"I do not create values," wrote Henry Miller once, "I defecate and nourish". The poems in Golpitha often contain a scatological element, or even an elemental scatology and their reader needs a strong stomach to withstand their relentlessly repulsive ethos. And yet, there is a tragic lyrical luminosity about the evocative brutal imagery, the savaging of humanity with its muffled cry of pain that the poems carve out.

Golpitha occupies a position equal to that of T.S.Eliot's The Waste Land not only in Marathi but in pan-Indian poetry and it could have been written only by a Dalit. An earlier Marathi poetic classic was B.S. Mardhekar's Kahi Kavita that comes from a literary culture much similar to Eliot's. Namdeo's Golpitha has no literary foregrounding because it springs from an 'untouchable' source in every sense of the term. It reveals whatever others would strive to shove under the carpet of poetry. This is my considered opinion more than twenty-five years after its publication and I had no hesitation in writing that Namdeo's poetry, from that outstanding start, is Nobel Laureate material. He has published six more collections of poetry since, and each has the stamp of his unique genius. Marathi literary critics, always about a quarter-of-a-century behind the achievement of their native contemporaries, are only now beginning to acknowledge his worth, and still rather grudgingly.

His poetry is both a translator's nightmare and occasional delight. I rediscover it every now and then. Four years ago, the former Heidelberg Indologist and translator of Hindi and Bengali poetry into German, Lothar Lutze and I worked on some of Namdeo's poems. Lutze is one of the finest readers of contemporary European poetry and a translator with a rare acumen for poetic tonality and we shared our delight in translating Namdeo together. Since Lutze knows no Marathi, I provided him answers to his very subtle and probing queries about each word, phrase, metaphor, and idiom. Even Marathi readers find Namdeo's poetry often obscure and complex. A translator's chosen accountability made me struggle as I answered Lutze's questions. Judging by German readers' response to Lutze's translations, I now think it was worth our while.

Some years ago, for a special issue of an American journal devoted to South Asian literature, the late A.K. Ramanujan similarly translated a couple of Namdeo's poems with the assistance of a Marathi speaker, and recently Vinay Dharwadkar has done so for another American literary journal. But I am amazed at the apathy shown by translators in Indian languages, including English, to this major contemporary poet. Bangla translators may be excused. But Hindi? Malayalam? Kannada? Gujarati? The Indian literary scene is rich but poorly cross-pollinated and that, as a translator, depresses me most.

(Photographs by Henning Stegmuller)
FONTE: http://www.ambedkar.org/

Cem anos depois, processo de Oscar Wilde por conta da sua homossexualidade vem a público

Cem anos depois, processo de Oscar Wilde por conta da sua homossexualidade vem a público
Por Redação 29/4/2008 - 11:55

Mais de 200 mil processos do maior tribunal penal de Londres foram publicados por três universidades londrinas e entre os processos está um dos mais famosos: o do dramaturgo Oscar Wilde. É a primeira vez que os autos do processo por "escândalo homossexual" do escritor fica aberto ao público. Oscar Wilde foi célebre dramaturgo e escritor do século 19, a sua obra mais famosa é "O retrato de Dorian Gray",publicado originalmente em 1891. Porém Oscar vai a ruína quando se envolve com o jovem Lord Alfred Douglas, nessa época relações homossexuais eram proibidas. Processado e condenado,Oscar Wilde vê as suas peças saírem de cartaz, seus livros desaparecerem das prateleiras. Do cárcere ele escreveu a obra "De profundis". Vale a pena conferir.

FONTE (image include): A Capa - São Paulo,SP,Brazil

José Paulo Pais

José Paulo Pais
Origem: Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre.
(Redirecionado de José Paulo Paes)
Ir para: navegação, pesquisa
José Paulo Paes (Taquaritinga, 1926São Paulo, 1998) foi um poeta, tradutor, crítico e ensaísta brasileiro.
Tendo estudado química industrial na cidade de Curitiba (entre 1945 e 1948), durante muitos anos, Zé Paulo trabalhou em laboratório farmacêutico. Todavia, paralelo a essa profissão jamais deixou de lado a literatura, cujo interesse foi lhe passado pelo avô que era livreiro, sendo que ainda nos tempos de aluno em Curitiba, já colaborava com a revista Joaquim, dirigida por Dalton Trevisan. Dessa temporada paranaense nasce seu livro de estréia, O aluno, de 1947, fortemente influenciado pela poesia de Carlos Drummond de Andrade, o qual o respondeu com o conselho de evitar a imitação de vozes alheias.
Em 1949, transfere-se para São Paulo, quando passa a colaborar com os jornais Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, O Tempo, Jornal de Notícias e Revista Brasiliense, aproximando-se de escritores modernistas como Graciliano Ramos, Jorge Amado e Oswald de Andrade. Conhece também Dora, sua mulher por toda a vida a quem dedicou Cúmplices, de 1951, seu segundo livro. Por falta de um estudo melhor, sua obra foi comparada às dos poetas da Geração de 45, tendo inclusive participado de uma antologia na companhia de Haroldo de Campos e Décio Pignatari, quando eram chamados de “Novíssimos”, ou seja antes da eclosão da poesia concreta, à qual Zé Paulo soube com inteligência absorver, cujos resultados apareceram em seu livro Anatomias de 1967, apresentado justamente por Augusto de Campos. Mais que poesia concreta seu livro aproveitava um ritmo mais oswaldiano, como nos poemas “L'affaire Sardinha” (que fora publicado em 1962 na antologia Violão de Rua, da UNE) e o conhecido “Epitáfio para um Banqueiro”
Por volta de 1963, Zé Paulo dá início a um trabalho editorial intenso à frente da Editora Cultrix, abandonando o trabalho como químico, dedicando-se a partir de então integralmente à literatura. Na companhia de Massaud Moisés foi organizador do Pequeno Dicionário de Literatura Brasileira, publicado pela Editora Cultriz em 1967.
Em 1981, Zé Paulo aposenta-se como editor, dando início a um dos mais competentes trabalhos de tradução entre os escritores brasileiros, verteu para o português autores de diversas línguas, como Charles Dickens, Joseph Conrad, Pietro Aretino, Konstantínos Kaváfis, Laurence Sterne, W. H. Auden, William Carlos Williams, J.K. Huysmans, Paul Éluard, Hölderlin, Paladas de Alexandria, Edward Lear, Rilke, Seféris, Lewis Carroll, Ovídio, Níkos Kazantzákis, entre outros tantos. Seu reconhecimento na matéria resultou em sua nomeação como Diretor da oficina de tradução de poesia no Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL) da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).
Em 1986 vem a público o livro Um por todos, reunião de seu trabalho até então, apresentado pelo crítico Alfredo Bosi. Vem ainda da década de 1980 seu interesse pela poesia infantil, com a qual alcançou grande êxito entre as crianças.
Em 1989, Zé Paulo lança pela coleção Claro Enigma, organizada por Augusto Massi, o livro "A poesia está morta mas eu juro que não fui eu", título extraído do poema "Acima de qualquer suspeita".
Na década de 1990 dá seqüência ao seu trabalho, lançando diversos livros de ensaios, poemas infantis, traduções e poesia, sendo um dos mais bem recebidos "Prosas seguidas de odes mínimas", livro no qual reflete um momento difícil de sua vida, quando tem uma perna amputada, como pode-se ler no poema "Ode à minha perna esquerda":
Ao falecer em 1998, deixou inédito o livro "Socráticas" que veio a público em 2001.
FONTE: http://pt.wikipedia.org/

Visa vya Esopo

Visa vya Esopo
Kutoka Wikipedia
Rukia: urambazaji, tafuta
Visa vya Esopo vinatokana na masimulizi ya Esopo, ambaye inaaminika kuwa alikuwa ni mtumwa wa Kiafrika aliyeishi kati ya mwaka 620 na 560 Kabla ya Kristo katika Ugiriki wa Zamani. Visa vyake hutumiwa kutoa mafunzo na kuburudisha. Visa hivi hutumiwa kwa wingi katika vitabu vya watoto na vikaragosi.
Historia ya Esopo haijulikani vyema. Inaaminiwa kuwa alikuwa ni mtumwa aliyeachiliwa huru na baadaye alikuja kuuliwa na Wadeliphi. Baadhi ya wanazuoni wanaamini kuwa hakuna mtu aliyewahi kuishi katika historia aliyeitwa Esopo.

[hariri] Viungo vya Nje

Training intensifies for judo's Olympic hopefuls


Home > Sports
Training intensifies for judo's Olympic hopefuls
Liza Atamy
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Sports

The SJSU Judo Club is preparing for the Olympic trials, which is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas from June 13 through June 15.

"We've been training 11 hours a week," said Marti Malloy, a junior advertising major. "We train two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening every day, except Sunday, and on Saturday we only train once."

Malloy said she started practicing martial arts at the age of 6 and has been part of the SJSU club for three years.

"I lived on a military base in Washington state and my dad enrolled my brothers in (judo)," said Malloy, 21.

"I was upset because I wanted to play on the mats like my brothers did, so my parents let me do it."

Malloy said she came in first place at the USA Judo 2008 Senior National Judo Championships, held in the beginning of April, in the 57-kilogram (125.4 pounds) weight division.

Malloy said there is one more tournament that she must win in order to qualify in the 63-kilogram (138.6 pounds) division for the Olympic trials.

"I don't have enough points yet to be in the top three, which is what you need to qualify in your weight," she said.

Malloy said if she did well in the tournament next week, she would qualify in her division and would go to the trials.

"I'm confident because I've never lost (to) any of the girls I fought," she said. "I'm still going to worry, but I know that I can be on the Olympic team."

Jon Leonhardt, who is currently on the Olympic trial team and is ranked No. 4 in the nation in the 100-plus kilogram (220 pounds) division, said he had been practicing judo for 22 years.

"It was around the time when 'Karate Kid' came out, and my parents wanted me to get into a sport," Leonhardt said.

"There was a judo club across the street from our home, so we gave it a proximity, and I stuck with it."

Leonhardt placed fifth in the 100-plus kilogram category in the 2007 USA Open Judo Championship, according to sjsujudo.org.

He came in first place in the 100-plus kilogram category at the Senior Nationals, according to usjudo.org.

"The last Olympic trials, they only took the top five to the trials, and I missed it by one point," he said.

"This year, it feels good to be in the spot and make it.

"Especially coming out of the national championships, I have a lot of confidence going into the trials."

Janine Nakao, a sophomore nutrition major, said she won first at the Senior Nationals in the 63-kilgram (138.6 pounds) division.

"We had the best results this year," said Nakao, 21. "We trained very hard and stepped it up a lot for the tournament."

Nakao said she had been doing judo since she was 4½ years old.

"I wanted to join because it's in the family," she said. "My dad, brother and cousins all have been doing judo."

Nakao said she was excited about the upcoming trials in June and that she had been training 15 hours a week."

During the trials, the top eight in the nation in each weight division will fight," she said.

Allison Clifford, a sophomore occupational therapy major, said she originally started practicing Brazilian jujitsu at age 12.

"It's a similar form of submission wrestling," said Clifford, 19. "I mostly did it for self-defense, but I just fell in love with it."

Clifford said she started doing judo to get better at her throw, and she came to SJSU because of the judo club.

"I wanted to pursue the dream of going to the Olympics, and I came here," she said. "A lot of schools claim to give the same amount of education in judo, but it just doesn't compare to the program here.

"Clifford, who is in the 78-kilogram (171.6 pounds) weight class, said she is not attending the trials but that she is helping a teammate who will be going to the Olympic trials.

Clifford said another enriching aspect of the SJSU Judo Club was the diversity among teammates.

"Most teammates are from all over the place," she said. "We have people from New Jersey, Chicago, Japan, Mali and Bosnia. You really get a cultural experience."

FONTE (photo include): The Spartan Daily - San Jose,CA,USA

Víctor Canseco, campeón de España


judo nacional sub-23
Víctor Canseco, campeón de España

EIVISSA P.M. El judoca ibicenco Víctor Canseco se coronó ayer Campeón de España de la categoría sub-23 en el peso de +100 kilos. La competición tuvo lugar en Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid. Con este triunfo Canseco revalidó así el título que ya había logrado el año pasado.

El campeonato fue un paseo militar para el judoca ibicenco, ya que venció con una superioridad aplastante a todos los rivales con los que se cruzó en su camino. En la final se impuso al canario Isaac Torres al marcarle un ippon en sólo cuatro segundos.

En el primer combate Canseco se deshizo del vasco Asier Eizaguirre, venciendole también por ippon en los primeros siete segundos de la pelea. Después doblegó en la fase de cuartos de final al madrileño Francisco Montero, que le duró apenas cinco segundos igualmente por ippon. En semifinales se cruzó en su camino el valenciano Sergio Fernández, que sólo tuvo tiempo de tomar contacto con el tatami.

Once segundos le bastaron a Canseco para dar buena cuenta de él. Después, en la final, el ibicenco tampoco dio opción a Isaac Torres.

Canseco dejó asombrado a todos los presentes en el pabellón madrileño en el que se celebró la competición, que se rindieron ante su claro y abrumador dominio sobre sus rivales.

El judoca ibicenco se mostró muy satisfecho por el triunfo conseguido después del mal sabor de boca que le dejó el nacional absoluto, del que se quedó fuera de la final por un error propio: «Venía con muchas ganas porque después del traspiés que tuve en el Campeonato de España sénior quería desquitarme en esta competición. Además, hace un mes y medio tuve una lesión de tobillo importante que me tuvo un mes y medio sin poder entrenar con normalidad y esto es un gran resultado. Además, por esta lesión me perdí una competición con el equipo nacional sub-23 en Túnez», aseguró Víctor Canseco.

Este triunfo también le ha servido al judoca ibicenco para mantener su condición de miembro del equipo nacional sub-23. Tiene compromios próximos: «Dentro de tres semanas nos harán unas pruebas de condición física para evaluarnos y a mediados del mes de junio tenemos un campeonato internacional en Grecia en la que el año pasado fui bronce». Canseco espera también hacer un buen papel en esta edición.

El pitiuso quiere también ir acumulando puntos para ganarse su clasificación para el Europeo que se celebrará en Zagreb (Croacia) en el mes de noviembre. Ingualmente, su objetivo está en poder participar en la Copa del Mundo de Madrid sénior.

FONTE (photo include): Diario de Ibiza - Ibiza/Eivissa,Baleares,Spain

Iran judo team wins six matches


Iran judo team wins six matches

TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Iranian judo fighters have won six matches in the first day of the Asian Judo Championships, which is being held in Jeju in South Korea.
Mohammad Reza Roudaki (+100) managed to defeat his Tajik rival by ippon (instant win). Ehsan Rajabi (-100) beat his Chinese opponent as well. Hossein Qomi (-90) won his first match with a Kuwaiti fighter but lost to his rival from Uzbekistan in the second round. Hamed Malek-Mohammadi (-81) managed to defeat his opponent from Hong Kong by ippon in the early seconds of the match. In females' competitions, Sahar Chogharvand (-78) was defeated by her South Korean rival. Toktam Bidel (-63) beat a judo fighter from Vietnam but lost to her South Korean opponent in the second round. Nine Iranian men and three women fighters have participated in the Asian Judo Championships which began on April 26 and will end on 27. The first five winners in the competitions will qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

FONTE: Tehran Times - Iran

Je, tu, …îles

Je, tu, …îles
LA REUNION
Un judoka réunionnais à Pékin
Mathieu Dafreville est le premier judoka réunionnais qualifié pour les Jeux olympiques. Il défendra les couleurs française à Pékin chez les moins de 90 kg. c’est Patrick Rosso, l’entraîneur national français, qui lui a annoncé la nouvelle la semaine dernière. L’ancien élève de Saint-Pierre Judo ouvre ainsi un nouveau chapitre de l’histoire de l’école réunionnaise, une histoire qu’il écrit personnellement depuis maintenant une dizaine d’années, jalonnée de nombreux titres nationaux, de médailles d’or sur des tournois internationaux, d’un titre de champion du monde universitaire, d’une sélection pour les Championnats du monde fédéraux l’an dernier et d’une énième participation aux Championnats d’Europe pas plus tard que la semaine dernière au Portugal.
FONTE: L'express.mu - Mauritius
http://www.lexpress.mu/

Campionato Italiano Assoluto di Judo


Campionato Italiano Assoluto di Judo
Vittoria di Di Cristo su Maddaloni
di Monica Maisto

Si è svolto al Vailant Palace di Genova il Campionato Nazionale Assoluto di Judo organizzato dalla FIJLKAM.

La manifestazione tricolore denominata “Trofeo AAMS” è giunta alla 64ª edizione maschile e 43ª femminile ed assegna il titolo italiano più importante sei mesi dopo l’edizione 2007 di Monza ed a poco più di cento giorni dall’inizio delle Olimpiadi di Pechino. Alla finale di Genova erano presenti oltre 500 atleti.

L’altissimo tasso tecnico vedeva coinvolti i più forti atleti di Judo e gli squadroni delle forze armate Gruppo sportivo Carabinieri, G.S. Fiamme Azzurre, Fiamme Oro e Fiamme Gialle.

Autore indiscusso della fantastica giornata è stato Giovanni Di Cristo, di Torre del Greco, che nella categoria dei 73 Kg. conquista il podio più alto laureandosi Campione assoluto Italiano 2008 confermando sia il titolo assoluto conquistato nella scorsa edizione che il titolo Europeo Under 23 conquistato sempre nel 2007.

La gara di Di Cristo vede alla partenza circa 80 partecipanti nella propria categoria.

Parte alla grande Di Cristo che a suon di ippon elimina tutti gli avversari fino all’incontro con lo storico rivale Poeta dove una distrazione di Di Cristo, porta l’avversario in vantaggio per Waza-ari, ma Gianni reagisce con freddezza e concentrazione superando anche questo incontro per Ippon (KO del judo).

Nella semifinale si impone con sicurezza su Chimento esperto avversario del Gruppo Sportivo Carabinieri.

Nella finale per il titolo gli è opposto Marco Maddaloni, fratello minore del noto campione olimpico Pino, anch’egli detentore di due titoli europei Under 23, Di Cristo non si lascia intimorire e con concentrazione e determinazione sfoggia un incontro perfetto riuscendo ad avere la meglio sul quotato avversario, lasciando esplodere la gioia per la conferma del titolo assoluto conquistato nel 2007 ed aprendogli le porte per il Judo mondiale.

Cresciuto nella compagine della Olimpic Center sotto la guida del Maestro Piccirillo e in forza da soli pochi giorni al gruppo sportivo delle Fiamme Gialle della Guardia di Finanza, Giovanni Di Cristo non è nuovo a tale imprese infatti nel solo anno 2007 è riuscito a conquistare il titolo sia di campione Italiano Assoluto sia il titolo di Campione Europeo Under 23 di judo.
29/4/2008
FONTE (photo include): Napoli.com - Napoli,Campania,Italy

Miguel Ángel Bustos. El poeta y el silencio.

Miguel Ángel Bustos. El poeta y el silencio.
Gabriela Bruch
‘…escribo para que me sea dado el Silencio’.
M. A. Bustos
Si tomamos del diccionario, la definición de la palabra silencio, veremos que nos encontramos con varias acepciones: abstención de hablar, falta de ruido, pausa.
Abstención de hablar debido a una muerte no buscada, pausa entre esa voz que muere y esa voz que vive, para siempre, en y desde la poesía.
También está el silencio que el hombre busca para hallarse a sí mismo, desde los múltiples laberintos de la palabra.
Miguel Ángel Bustos quiso ser acallado por la última dictadura militar argentina, cuando lo desaparece en el año 1976, cosa que en parte, se ha conseguido. Resulta
muy difícil hallar material bibliográfico sobre él, no se encuentran sus obras en las bibliotecas populares.
De todos modos, gracias a la tarea de su amigo Alberto Szpunberg, podemos volver a escuchar su voz poética en este mundo devastado por la barbarie.
Szpunberg realizó una antología con poemas éditos e inéditos de este autor, ‘Despedida de los ángeles’, editada por Libros de Tierra Firme en Buenos Aires, en el año 1998. Esta antología comprende poesía inédita escrita entre los años 1959 y 1962, el libro ‘Cuatro murales’ que data del año 1957, ‘Corazón de piel afuera’ escrito en 1959, ‘Fragmentos fantásticos’ del año 1965, ‘Visión de los hijos del mal’, del año 1967 y por último ‘El Himalaya o la moral de los pájaros’, escrito y publicado en 1970.
De la reseña biobibliográfica realizada por su hijo Emiliano, podemos extraer que Miguel Ángel Bustos nace en Buenos Aires en 1932, siendo el primero de cuatro hermanos. Es su abuelo materno quien lo aproxima a los libros y a la poesía.
En el año 1951 termina sus estudios secundarios entre los años 52 y 56 desarrolla su pasión por los idiomas. Estudia inglés, francés, portugués e italiano. También cursa la carrera de Filosofía y Letras hasta tercer año.
En el año 1957, publica su primer libro ‘Cuatro murales’.
Entre los años 1960 y 1963 realiza un extenso viaje por el norte de Argentina y también por Brasil, Bolivia y Perú.
En 1964 regresa a Buenos Aires, tiene un fugaz casamiento y luego una internación de casi un año en el Hospital Neuropsiquiátrico ‘José T. Borda’. Allí conoce a otro gran poeta argentino: Jacobo Fijman.
En los años 66 y 67, el dibujo comienza a ocupar un espacio tan importante como el de la poesía, tanto que cuatro de sus libros están ilustrados por él.
Conoce a Leopoldo Marechal a quien llama su maestro. Es Marechal quien prologa en 1967, ‘Visión de los hijos del mal’. Ese mismo año conoce a una artista plástica, Alba, quién será su mujer.
En 1970 publica su libro ‘El Himalaya…’ con dinero obtenido de una beca otorgada por el Fondo Nacional de las Artes. Luego se dedica a la cr´tica literaria, trabaja para diarios y revistas de actualidad.
En el año 1972, nace Emiliano, su único hijo, quién ilustra la tapa de ‘Despedida de los ángeles’, con su obra ‘hombre con pájaro en la cabeza’.
También da clases en la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras y estudia rumano, siguiendo con su pasión por los idiomas.
En 1976, uno de los años más oscuros de la historia argentina, un grupo paramilitar lo secuestra de su propia casa y Miguel Ángel pasa a engrosar la tristemente célebre lista de 30.000 desaparecidos.
En sus poemas podemos escuchar esta voz que perdura a través del tiempo, el olvido y la muerte.
Palabra aún no usada
No he usado
muchas flores
palabras
como encía pelvis
planta rampa luminal.
que no necesité
no comí
no me calenté con ellas.
Pero
si llevara
la palabra mierda
junto a un cuerpo sangriento
sola
sin saber
sería triste
humana
hasta dónde más.
[Poesía inédita, 1960.]
Sueño quebrado
Sueño quebrado
levántate y anda
Marcha de mi frente
abre mi tierra.
Levanta
ruda muralla de niños
al dólar de fuego y zarpa de balas.
Vuelve
joven enamorado del agua
al mordido corazón rebelde,
abraza y besa prieto hasta la llama
pedernal de lágrimas,
mi corazón
clavado a pico de sangre
en las vigilias desnudas de mi cuerpo.
[de Corazón de piel afuera, 1956.]
I.
Afuera oigo la lluvia, adentro siento la lluvia. Mi cuerpo de barro se deshace.
[de Visión de los hijos del mal,1967.]
Monte silencio del Verbo
‘… Ah, día de los días, patria salvaje, inocente eternidad. Cielo de quietud, bello abismo: mañana del Verbo. Fui en aquel sin tiempo, un perpetuo amanecer y pasé la celeste muralla; región de banderas y soles llevados por dioses; crucé su puente en llamas , encarnación de las niñas, dejé la mañana y entré en la Noche del Verbo’.

[de El Himalaya o la moral de los pájaros, 1970.]
‘Ni el crimen más alevoso ni quienes lo han bendecido con el indulto o el mísero olvido o la posmodernidad más frívola, conseguirán detenerlo’ Alberto Szpunberg.
Vaya para Miguel Ángel, este humilde homenaje