It is a shame that Brazil has such a significant number of talented poets who died prematurely. Some of them, had they lived another decade or two, would certainly have produced invaluable works. This is the case with Raul de Leoni. What stands out in his Luz mediterrânea is his sincere effort to express what moved him most deeply, despite the prevailing fashion: a demonstration of his awareness of his own individuality and of the path he should follow to greatest advantage. That is why his poetry was original. This clear notion of his own position, knowing how to choose the most appropriate themes and seeking to develop them in the form he deemed fair, ignoring what others were doing or what they would certainly say, is a quality that is difficult to find, most often achieved only after successive mistakes, very rarely present in early creations. Undoubtedly, this poet would have produced an exceptional work.
Tag: literature
A Writer Will Never Go Wrong if…
A writer will never go wrong if he focuses on his own themes, even if he leaves aside many others that could make his work more comprehensive. This comprehensiveness sometimes comes at the price of dispersion. And since the passages in which the writer expresses himself with all the intensity he is capable of are so striking, it is good for him to concentrate on them, to build around them whatever he has to build. Working in this way, even excesses will be diminished by the sincerity that will naturally abound in a work that consciously aimed at the essential.
It Does Not Seem at All Reasonable…
It does not seem at all reasonable that, once the author is dead, under the justification of protecting the “rights” of his heirs, his work should remain almost inaccessible for seventy years, until it finally falls into the so-called public domain. Certainly, it does not seem to be in the author’s interest for his work to be subject to the whims of those who see it only as a means of earning a few bucks, and who almost always cause it to fall into oblivion just when it could gain greater repercussion, that is, in the years immediately following his death. Repeatedly, what we see are “heirs” opting for the best deal, that is, giving exclusivity to a mediocre publisher to print the works on cheap paper, with poor editing and higher profits. However, it is not uncommon for the publisher to also hinder distribution, which results in fewer sales and lower profits. All of this is very petty, and it is incomprehensible how it became normal, especially for the “heirs,” to use the author instead of honoring him, to harm him instead of promoting him…
It Is More or Less Inevitable That…
It is more or less inevitable that the poet who sets out to criticize other poets will value in them precisely the qualities he seeks to develop in his own work. Involuntarily, the spotlight falls on what attracts him most. For this reason, it is not uncommon for a poet’s criticism to reveal more about himself than about the author he is criticizing. And that is a very good thing. Almost always, the best parts of his criticism are those in which the poet forgets the role he is playing and lets his personal interpretation flow freely. When we compare them with other passages in which are pointed out aspects, or even authors with whom the poet-critic identifies less, the criticism, even if good, seems somewhat bland.