Haroldo de Campos: A Dialogue with the Brazilian Concrete Poet (review)

Since the passing of Haroldo de Campos (1929–2003), several volumes have been planned to celebrate the legacy of the incomparable scholar-translator of world literature, to pay homage to the cosmopolitan theorist / creative writer of universal dimensions, to celebrate the generous contributions of the giant whom many consider Brazil's leading triple-threat literary figure in the second half of the twentieth century. Precious few book-length publications have actually appeared as of this writing (cf. below). Some of these editorial projects were conceived before the death of the master poet-professor of Perdizes, in view of his seventieth birthday, of an ultra-distinguished career, of the turn of the century-millennium / quincentennial. Given the extent and depth of Haroldo's work in poetry (twelve books), translation (fourteen books), and criticism/theory (eighteen books), there could be a separate volume of studies on each of those endeavors. In practice, friends, colleagues, and admirers in the realm of letters who contribute to compilations about Haroldo find it hard to separate the artistic and the analytical in his repertory.

The present volume, in the New Cultural Studies Series, comprises papers presented at coordinated 1999 conferences at Oxford and Yale (cf. the cogent on-line congress report), as well as a few postmortem additions. Beyond the editor and honored artist, the twenty contributors include academics and associates from North America, Brazil, Argentina, and several European nations. The title is not quite right as the only "dialogue" comes in an old interview (reprint from 1994 with the word "today" in the header) also including Augusto de Campos, and, more importantly, Haroldo long objected to being identified (simply) as a "concrete poet." The short preface is appropriately informational, with a few unfortunate errors in names, dates, or characterizations. A special volume of this caliber ought not reference a classic concrete poem as "Nasce/Morre," in caps with slash in Times font instead of a single lower-case item in the definitive bold Futura font. The collection is subdivided into six parts whose rubrics, independent of the originality or excellence of the segments, also have some imperfections or imprecise indications. Part I, "Haroldo de Campos," consists solely of his keynote address, an updated selection of pivotal contemporary positions regarding such issues as rescue of the baroque, aesthetic autonomies, and cultural anthropophagy. Besides quotations in the course of the papers, the only other words of the author himself (plus translations) come in Part V, a "Selected Anthology," which is so brief that the page numbers were omitted from the table of contents. The two poems and two fragments of Galáxias there could be distributed in other parts profitably. Part II are writings on Haroldo's production, mostly in the form of well-crafted critical overviews and appreciations or commentaries; the Brazilian connection is perhaps strongest here. The most internationalist section is Part III, concerning the prose-poetry of Galáxias (and "after" in the segment by Marjorie Perloff, which has appeared in three other venues and uses Haroldo as a springboard to discuss others). Here there are well-tuned compositions, balancing perceptions of macro-structures and micro-textuality, whether following a musical orientation, staying especially attentive to modernist ingenuity, or linking ancient knowledge and modern philosophy. The concept of Part IV, "Concrete Poetry from Noigandres to Finismundo," might be seen as somewhat problematic since Grupo Noigandres commenced before the baptism of concrete poetry and Finismundo, despite a moving Italian interpretation here, appeared decades after the closure qua movement of concretism in Brazilian poetry. Part VI is a postscript; the obituaries / homages taken from the world press are justified for different reasons: the writer's renown, e.g. Umberto Eco, Guillermo Cabrera Infante; poetic invocations of other notables, e.g. Andrés Sánchez-Robayna of Jacques Derrida; concise wisdom, Gonzalo Aguilar; or titular distinction, "The Inexhaustible Astonishment of Haroldo de Campos" by Jorge Schwartz, whose artful piece also pinpoints essential Spanish American links...