Brazil’s Poetry Now in English

A new bilingual anthology of Brazilian poetry will allow English speakers to experience an important part of the world’s literary heritage for the first time. "Poets of Brazil: A Bilingual Selection" is the first anthology to present the full range of Brazilian poetic creativity and beauty in English translation. Work by 33 poets covering all of Brazil’s literary periods is presented in a new English translaton on pages facing the Portuguese original.

Yale’s Harold Bloom notes, “'Poets of Brazil: A Bilingual Selection' is the only book available that gives these poets to us in both languages … The choice of poets is remarkably inclusive and various and is particularly enlightening in the works of the twentieth-century Republic of Brazil.” And these poets hold an important place in literature, “Brazilians have…with justifiable pride—continuously boasted of fine poets and writers, many of whom rivaled the best in the mother country and in the world,” notes the introduction.

The 121 poems included were selected and translated by Frederick G. Williams during more than 30 years of teaching Portuguese at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at Brigham Young University. Dr. Williams is currently Gerrit de Jong, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Luso-Brazilian Studies at Brigham Young University.

In the introduction, Professor Williams attributes his translation philosophy to the great Portuguese poet Jorge de Sena, who said “translation is not to make our own poetry with the poetry of others, but to do with our language what an Emily Dickinson would have done and said if, in Portuguese, she had experienced the same identical poem.”

"Poets of Brazil: A Bilingual Selection"
Translations, Introduction and Notes by Frederick G. Williams
Luso-Brazilian Books, Brigham Young University Studies and Editora da Universidade Federal da Bahia
ISBN: 0-85051-700-1 (Hardcover) $49.95
ISBN: 0-85051-701-X (Paper) $29.95

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