Campos, Haroldo de 1929-2003 (Haroldo Eurico Brown de Campos)

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Campos, Haroldo de 1929-2003 (Haroldo Eurico Brown de Campos)

PERSONAL:

Born August 19, 1929, in São Paulo, Brazil; died of complications from diabetes, August 16, 2003, in São Paulo, Brazil; son of Eurico and Elvira de Campos; married Carmen de Paula Arruda, May 8, 1954; children: Ivan Persio. Education: University of São Paulo, L.L.B., 1952; University of Montreal, Ph.D., 1972.

CAREER:

Writer and poet. Pontifical Catholic University, São Paulo, Brazil, visiting professor, 1971-72, assistant professor, 1973-78, associate professor, 1979-81, professor, 1982-89, became professor emeritus, 1990. Visiting professor, University of Texas, 1971, and Yale University, 1978; E.L. Tinker visiting professor, University of Texas, Austin, 1981.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Guggenheim fellowship, 1972; Fulbright fellowship, 1978; Jabuti Prize, Câmara Brasileira do Livro, São Paulo, 1992; Chevalier de L'Ordre des Palmes Academiques, France, 1995; Octavio Paz Prize, Octavio Paz Foundation, 1999.

WRITINGS:

POETRY

Auto do possesso, [São Paulo, Brazil], 1950.

(Editor and author of introduction) Oswald de Andrade, Poesias reunidas, Difusão Européia do Livro (São Paulo, Brazil), 1966.

Versuchsbuch Galaxien, E. Walther (Stuttgart, Germany), 1966.

(With Pedro Xisto and Augusto de Campos) Guimarães Rosa em três dimensôes, Conselho Estadual de Cultura (São Paulo, Brazil), 1970.

(Translator) Dante Alighieri, Seis Cantos do Paraíso, Fontana (Rio de Janerio, Brazil), 1976.

(Editor and author of introduction) Oswald de Andrade, Obra escogida, Biblioteca Ayachucho (Caracas, Venezuela), 1981.

(Editor, translator, and author of introduction) Ezra Pound, Poesia, Editora Universidade de Brasilia (São Paulo, Brazil), 1983.

Galáxias, Editora Ex Libris (São Paulo, Brazil), 1984, 2nd edition, 2004.

A educação dos cinco sentidos: Poemas, Brasiliense (São Paulo, Brazil), 1985.

(Editor) Oswald de Andrade, Pau-Brasil, Editora Globo (São Paulo, Brazil), 1990.

Os melhores poemas de Haroldo de Campos, Global (São Paulo, Brazil), 1992.

(With Augusto de Campos) Os sertões dos Campos: Duas Vezes Euclides, Sette Letras (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil), 1997.

Sobre Finismundo: A última viagem, Sette Letras (Rio de Janiero, Brazil), 1997.

Crisantempo: No Espaço curvo nasce um, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1998.

A Máquina do monudo repensada, Ateliê Editorial (Cotia, Brazil), 2000.

Éden: Um tríptico biblico, Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 2004.

NONFICTION

Panorama do "Finnegans Wake," Conselho Estadual de Cultura (São Paulo, Brazil), 1962, 2nd edition, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1971.

Revisão de Sousândrade: Textos críticos, antología, glossário, biobibliografia, Ediçoes Invenção (São Paulo, Brazil), 1964, 2nd edition, Editora Nova Fronteira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1982, 3rd edition, with Augusto de Campos, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 2002.

Teoria da poesia concreta: Textos Críticos e manifestos, 1950-1960, Ediçoes Invenção (São Paulo, Brazil), 1965, 2nd edition, Livraria Duas Cidades (São Paulo, Brazil), 1975.

Metalinguagem, ensaios de teoria e critica literária, Vozes (Petropolis, Brazil), 1967, 4th edition, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1992.

Traduzir and Trovar (Poetas dos séculos XII a XVII), Ediçoes Papyrus (São Paulo, Brazil), 1968.

A arte no horizonte do provável, e outros ensaios, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1969.

Morfologia do Macunaíma, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1973.

A Operação do texto, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1976.

Xadrez de estrelas: Percurso textual, 1949-1974, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1976.

(Editor) Ideograma: Lógica, poesia, linguagem, Editora Cultrix (São Paulo, Brazil), 1977.

Ruptura dos gêneros na literatura latino-americana, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1977.

Signantia quasi coelum: Signância quase céu, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1979.

Günther C. Kirchberger, Kulturamt der Stadt (Sindelfingen, Germany), 1981.

Deus e o diablo no Fausto de Goethe: Leitura do poema, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1981.

(With others) Palabras para Larva, Edicions del Mall (Barcelona, Spain), 1985.

(With Octavio Paz) Transblanco: Em Torno a Blanco de Octavio Paz, Editora Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1986, 2nd edition, Editora Siciliano (São Paulo, Brazil), 1994.

Transideraciones = Transiderações, Edicions El Tucán de Virginia (Mexico City, Mexico), 1987.

Sequestro do barroco na formação da literatura brasileira: O caso Gregório de Mattos, Fundação Casa de Jourge Amado (Salvador, Brazil), 1989.

(Translator) Qohélet = O-que-sabe = Eclesiastes: Poema sapiencial, Editora Perspectiva (São Paulo, Brazil), 1991.

Hagoromo de Zeami: O Charme Sutil, Estação Liberdade (São Paulo, Brazil), 1993.

(Editor and translator) Pedra e luz na poesia de Dante, Imago (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1998.

(Coauthor of text) Fragmentos de Obra, Albedrio (Mexico City, Mexico), 2001.

Depoimentos de oficina, UNIMARCO Editora (São Paulo, Brazil), 2002.

Novas: Selected Writings of Haroldo de Campos, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Haroldo de Campos was known for his whimsical, graphically oriented poetry, as well as for his nuanced criticism of more formal verse. He was born and died in São Paulo, Brazil. Trained as a lawyer, he never practiced that profession, devoting himself instead to writing essays and experimental verse. He was fluent in many languages, and was fond of "transcreation," a process by which he would translate a work and also add his own ideas into it. He translated works from the Chinese, German, Greek, Hebrew, English, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Provencal, and Latin into his native Portuguese. His translations of the writings of Dante, Homer, and other masters are among his best-known work. He has also translated Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Goethe, and parts of the Bible. Donaldo Schüler, in an article about de-Campos's work appearing on the Art and Architecture of the Americas Web site, stated: "Epic poetry seduces Haroldo do Campos as a translator and as a poet. Is translation a betrayal? That is a widespread opinion. Can a betrayal become a virtue? That is the firm position of Haroldo de Campos."

In addition to his reputation as a creative translator, de Campos was known as the foremost practitioner of the Concrete or Noigandres poetry movement in Brazil. It was de Campos who came up with the theory behind Concrete poetry, and who continued to refine it over the course of several years. The Concrete poets frequently created ambiguity and multiple layers of meaning in their work by arranging the letters of the words in unusual shapes. "In concrete poetry words are dismantled and modified so that we can see what they are made of, like a complex toy taken to pieces by a wayward child. In short, the poet becomes a ‘designer’ of meaning," explained Severo Sarduy in the UNESCO Courier. Founded in 1952, the Concrete movement grew slowly, evolving through three stages. It reached its height around 1960, when Brazil's carefully planned capital city, Brasilia, was completed, and the country was embracing modernism in many forms. De Campos and his brother Augusto were at the center of a group of writers that were seeking a new style of poetry for Brazil, one that would be free of the typical Brazilian cultural influence. Their work echoed the utilitarian nature of the new capital city, and was reminiscent in some ways of the work of European painters Mondrian and Brancusi. Praising the achievement of the Concrete poets, Sarduy wrote: "It is poetry at its most modern and most aggressively international, and yet poetry securely attached to its roots: the authentic voice of Brazil."

De Campos was also known for his work as a literary critic and a poet, and for his perceptive art criticism, which paved the way for the acceptance of many Brazilian artists, including Antonio Dias and Mira Schendel. He frequently wrote poems or prose works to support the artistic creations he was involved with, and he also lent much practical support to Brazilian visual artists.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Jackson, K. David, Haroldo de Campos: A Dialogue with the Brazilian Concrete Poet, Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford (Oxford, England), 2005.

PERIODICALS

UNESCO Courier, December, 1986, Severo Sarduy, "The Concrete Poetry Movement (in Brazil)," p. 28.

World Literature Today, winter, 1998, Marcel Cornis-Pope, "Experimental Visual Concrete: Avant-Garde Poetry since the 1960s," p. 219.

ONLINE

Art and Architecture of the Americas,http://www2.essex.ac.uk/ (January 27, 2007), Donaldo Schüler, "Brazilian Avant-Garde: The Epic of Haroldo de Campos."

Ubu Web,http://www.ubu.com/ (January 24, 2007), biographical information about Haroldo de Campos.