Staff Pick
An epic (67-page) poem of exile and alienation, Ferreira Gullar's Dirty Poem reverberates passionately and piercingly, nearly half of a century after its composition. Set in his native Brazil (but written in Buenos Aires after escaping the Brazilian dictatorship), Dirty Poem is rife with sex, death, poverty, despair, deterioration, and the vivid urban imagery of Gullar's youth. Beauty and blight co-mingle, with juxtaposing forms and figures complementing Gullar's visceral and forthright language. Recommended By Jeremy G., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Written in 1975 in Buenos Aires when Ferreira Gullar was in political exile from the Brazilian dictatorship, is an epic poem that amid life events traces the author's political and artistic evolution and is by most accounts the most important long poem of contemporary Brazilian literature. Scholar and critic Otto Maria Carpeaux wrote: " deserves to be called 'National Poem' because it embodies all of the experiences, victories, defeats, and hopes in the life of the Brazilian citizen." It is a hypnotic work that draws on the poet's memory of adolescence in the seaside city of Sao Luís do Maranhao during World War II and deals openly with the "dirty" shamefulness of a socio-economic system that abuses its citizens with poverty, sexism, greed, and fear.
Synopsis
Considered the greatest long poem in 20th century Brazilian poetry, Ferreira's Gullar's was written as a response to the Brazilian dictatorship that put him in exile and murdered thousands.
About the Author
Poet, artist, art critic, essayist, dramatist, journalist, and scriptwriter, Ferreira Gullar (b. 1930), is the central figure of the Neo-Concretes and best known for his work Poema Sujo (Dirty Poem). He currently lives and writes in Rio de Janeiro.Leland Guyer is the translator of many Brazilian writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and is Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota.