Greek Poet Konstantinos Cavafy's Journey To Brazil

How did the work of Greek poet Konstantinos Cavafy ever reached the distant, exotic and alluring land of Brazil? Who brought it there from this sun drenched tip of Eastern Europe called Greece, crossing the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean?

 

Cavafy’s poetry was introduced to Brazilian readers by the Portuguese modernist poet Jorge de Sena (1919-1978), who came to Brazil in 1959, when Portugal was under Salazar’s dictatorship, and, as part of the resistance, he found himself in the imminence of an arrestment. Later, when in 1964 Brazil went through its own military dictatorship, he went to the United States.

In the 80’s, Brazil entered an era of poetical translation, which included French poets like Mallarme, whose A throw of the dice never will abolish chance is his most influential poem, and Baudelaire’s collection of poems entitled Flowers of evil. The translation of English language poets, not only from Europe but also from the United States, has always been a tradition in Brazil; because of Cavafy’s popularity due to his introduction in Brazil by Jorge de Sena, Jose Paulo Paes (1926-1998) translated 75 of his poems directly from Greek.

Portuguese poets have taken as theme for their poetry the city, the time, and the great deeds of the past of Portugal, which is in some extend quite similar to Cavafy’s themes. Because they have such similarities and because Cavafy’s poetry is very present in modern Brazilian poetry, he became one of the favourite modern foreigner language poets to be explored by scholars and writers.

‘Ithaca’ is a known poem, but also ‘Waiting for the barbarians’ and the romantic ‘Body, remember’… All his poetry is now a very relevant part of literature in Brazil because, together with Portuguese poetry, it was an inspiration for Brazilian modern poets.

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