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Consumption, Style and the Precarious in Manoel de Barros’ Poetry

ABSTRACT

The criticism dedicated to the poet from the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso/ Mato Grosso do Sul Manoel de Barros is wide-ranging, but in spite of the many approaches to his work, undertaken by the specialists of the literary field, according to us, it is still necessary to investigate, although briefly, the relevance of his discursive strategy, on the basis of the relationships between his poetical universe and the phenomenon of consumption. Thus we approach some characteristics of his stylistics, above all the reiterated exploitation of certain elements of the natural world (specially its emphasis on the “precarious” things and beings) and the linguistic inversions (which defy normative grammar), responsible for the “differentiating mark” of his work, which, in order to impose itself, deliberately moves away from the hegemonic path. In this discussion, we mobilise concepts of literary theory, of the interface between communication and consumption and of the precepts of the French Discourse Analysis.

KEYWORDS:
Consumption; Discourse; Style; Precarious; Manoel de Barros

RESUMO

A fortuna crítica do poeta matogrossense Manoel de Barros é de largo espectro, mas, não obstante as numerosas abordagens de sua obra pelos estudiosos do campo literário, falta, ao nosso ver, investigar, ainda que brevemente, a relevância de sua estratégia discursiva, a partir das relações de seu universo poético com o fenômeno do consumo. Abordamos, assim, características de sua estilística que, ao explorar reiteradamente certos elementos como o tema do mundo natural, em especial a sua ênfase nas coisas e seres “precários”, as inversões linguísticas (que desafiam a gramática normativa), entre outros, resulta numa marca diferenciadora, que se afasta, para se impor, dos rumos seguidos pelo cânone poético hegemônico. Para essa discussão, mobilizamos conceitos da teoria literária, da interface comunicação e consumo e de preceitos de Análise de Discurso de linha francesa.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:
Consumo; Discurso; Estilo; Precário; Manoel de Barros

Every Author Has His/Her Own Brand

Prominent figures within the field of culture, like poets, cannot be considered media celebrities because they do not meet the totalising credentials of visibility according to Inglis (2010).1 1 INGLIS, F. A Short History of Celebrity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010. However, they still occupy noble spaces within the sphere of cultural production and, consequently, also in the context of their consumption.2 2 Cf. in Brief History of Celebrity (Inglis, 2010. p.57) some of the “effects and conditions of celebrity: public recognisability, the interplay of envy, admiration, generous acclaim, malicious denigration, prurient attentiveness, swift indifference.” An expressive, even if preambular question, is whether it is not through the excellence of their work (so it should be; extra-artistic factors should never influence critical assessment!), that this central presence is what makes these authors relevant for the history of poetry, resulting, in effect, in their inclusion in the literary canon.

This inaugural question unfolds into the notion of internal hierarchisation, according to Bourdieu (1996)BOURDIEU, P. As regras da arte - Gênese e estrutura do campo literário. Trad. Maria Lucia Machado. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1996. in his study about the literary universe, since the degree of recognition of a writer corresponds to the great or little of his or her symbolic capital in the field, devaluing or overvaluing the kind of literature produced by him/her. In this way, he beckons to his presence with more or less acceptance in two domains that, although complementary, not always converge to his conclusions: (specialised) criticism and (general) public.

In a key of interpretation based on the analysis of French discourse, we could affirm that every poet, as the enunciator of a particular work, enters into direct dispute with the work of other poets. This dispute is here understood as the establishment of an authorial brand, like a logo symbolising his singularity, differentiating him from his competitors. In other words, in order to assert its existence, the production of a poetic work is associated - and sometimes even conditioned - to its respective consumption.

Compagnon (2004), in his book Literature, Theory, and Common Sense,3 3 COMPAGNON, A. Literature, Theory, and Common Sense. Translated by Carol Cosman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. reminds us that it is not only the author but also the reader who gives meaning to a text. If so, the author could presuppose the profile of his readers and develop his work in communion with them. We realise here an approximation with the mechanism of discursive anticipation pointed out by Orlandi (2005)ORLANDI, E. P. Análise de discurso. Princípios & procedimentos. 6. ed. Campinas: Pontes, 2005.. Through this mechanism, which constitutes the very act of enunciation, the author (enunciator) puts himself in the position of reader (enunciatee) in order to ascertain whether his statements motivate, affect or provoke the other:

[…] every subject has the ability to experience, or rather to put himself in the place in which his interlocutor “hears” his words. He thus anticipates his interlocutor as to the meaning produced by his words. […] This spectrum varies widely, from the prediction of an interlocutor that is his accomplice to that whom, at the opposite side, he foresees as an absolute adversary (ORLANDI, 2005ORLANDI, E. P. Análise de discurso. Princípios & procedimentos. 6. ed. Campinas: Pontes, 2005., p.34).4 4 Original text: “[…] todo sujeito tem a capacidade de experimentar, ou melhor, de colocar-se no lugar em que o seu interlocutor “ouve” suas palavras. Ele antecipa-se assim a seu interlocutor quanto ao sentido que suas palavras produzem. […] Este espectro varia amplamente desde a previsão de um interlocutor que é seu cúmplice até aquele que, no outro extremo, ele prevê como adversário absoluto.”

It is not a question of affirming that these ideal readers guide the writer’s demands, but no writer is unaware of their existence, and even though he can ignore them, he does not do it completely, because by writing he reads himself or somehow anticipates for himself the reading of others. The first reader of a writer, the target reader, the reader who validates the author’s writing and forces him to remake it, whether he wants it or not, is, through a mechanism of anticipation, the writer himself. The writer himself - and also, or above all, the one who, at another time, will be his (other) reader and will continue to validate his works written in the past, now - and all of his works to come.

Similarly, in marketing, one of the guidelines of the advertising of any commercial brand is knowing their target audience. It is necessary to have some knowledge of this contingent, to carefully gauge the language in order to elicit empathy - which would be unattainable without taking into account the mechanism of anticipation, that is, if the enunciating brand does not hear, in the position of enunciator, what its utterances say and if, in such gradation, they are sufficient to instigate their target.

It is no coincidence that Fernando Pessoa, whose poetic work is fragmented into distinct authorial ramifications corresponding to the production of his different pen names - and aren’t these pen names a strategy to reach a wider audience? -, wrote advertising texts as a freelancer and, in one of the essays in which he theorised about the trade of advertising, he affirmed that it is essential to know the public to whom a product is directed - and here we can add that the same happens in relation to a text (be it in advertising or literature) and its consumer/reader:

The study of the public, that is, of the markets, is of three orders - economic, psychological and properly social. That is, to enter a market, whether domestic or foreign, it is necessary: 1) to know the conditions of economic acceptance of the item, and those in which the competition works and what it offers; 2) to know the nature of buyers, regardless of matters of price, to know what the best way is to distribute and claim the item; 3) to ascertain the circumstances, if there are any, of profound social or political order, or superficial and fashionable or momentary, that require certain corrections in the result of the two previous studies (PESSOA, 1990PESSOA, F. A arte do comércio. In. BERARDINELLI C. (Org.). Fernando Pessoa -Alguma prosa. 5. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1990., pp.224-225).5 5 Original text: “O estudo do público, isto é, dos mercados, é de três ordens — econômico, psicológico e propriamente social. Isto é, para entrar num mercado, seja doméstico ou estranho, é preciso: 1) saber as condições de aceitação econômica do artigo, e aquelas em que trabalha, e em que oferece, a concorrência; 2) conhecer a índole dos compradores, para, à parte questões de preço, saber qual a melhor forma de apresentar, de distribuir e de reclamar o artigo; 3) averiguar quais as circunstâncias especiais, se as houver, que, de ordem profunda e social ou política, ou superficial e de moda ou de momento, obrigam a determinadas correções no resultado dos dois estudos anteriores.”

As the Portuguese poet pointed out, it is equally essential, besides knowing one’s audience, to know the strategies of the competition, which, we point out, can unfold in the marketing plan and also in the discursive plan of the product.

Chevalier and Mazzalovo (2003, p.94),6 6 CHEVALIER, M.; MAZZALOVO, G. Pro Logo: Brands as a Factor of Progress. New York: Springer, 2003. analysing discourses about brands, define brand identity as “the capacity of a brand to be recognized as unique, over time, without confusion, thanks to the elements that individualize it.” It is this identity that differentiates one brand from another. Thus, based on these authors’ studies about the communication strategies of commercial brands, we could say that every author (poet) would be, consciously or not, placing their work, through their own peculiarities, on a discursive shelf that pleads for a certain originality capable of guaranteeing the interest of readers.

It is no coincidence that Mario Benedetti (1994, p.116-17)BENEDETTI, M. Antología poética. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1994., in the poem Tactics and Strategy, says: “My tactic is/ to remain in your memories/ I don't know how nor/ with what pretext/ but to stay within you.”7 7 Original text: “Mi táctica/ es quedarme en tu recuerdo/ no sé cómo ni sé/ con qué pretexto/ pero quedarme en vos.” Though not expressed in the poem, the pretext is implicit and is not unknown by the poet: the enunciator knows that for the utterances to produce meanings, the enunciatee has to consume them, thus removing them from the latency in which they could always remain.

Our aim is to take Manoel de Barros’ case as the example of an author who, aware of the need to position his work - despite the legitimate elements of his poetics -, focused intensely and uninterruptedly on certain stylistic traits that guaranteed authorial differentiation, as well as critical reputation.

Style: The Essence of Literary Consumption

Compagnon (2004)8 8 For reference, see footnote 3. makes a lengthy examination of the notion of style in his work, evaluating conceptions that preceded in a few decades the relationship between literary text and language. After discussing the various ways of conceiving style (as norm, ornament, deviation, genre, symptom, culture and thought), he concludes that three aspects define him and that are no arguments capable of neutralising them:

- Style is a formal variation on a (more or less) stable content.

- Style is a set of characteristic features of a work allowing its author to be identified and recognized (more intuitively than analytically).

- Style is a choice among several “writings.” (COMPAGNON, 2004, p.145).9 9 For reference, see footnote 3.

We can think, in consonance with the three constituent vectors of this literary notion, that a certain style, or, in our case, the style of a certain writer, is not only the brand (of his uniqueness) but also his differential in relation to the writing of other authors.

Any writer, in order to establish himself before the public (it will be the readers who will give his text the status of work), needs, whether he wants it or not - and obviously according to his personal obsessions and his mastery of the principles, techniques and possibilities of his craft -, to have a well-defined style, his brand.

It is by means of his own style that a writer legitimises himself, stands out and distinguishes himself from others. His many or few formal variations and their constant contents (themes, so to speak) are what give him the perseverance to at one and the same time impose and consolidate his particular, authorial voice. The set of traits peculiar to his work is what leads him to be recognised intuitively (by the public) and analytically (by critics). His writing is a choice among others - we need not look more closely at whether his writing is led by his literary limitations or by his discursive strategy in competition with that of other works, or still for a balance between these two lines of force (a romantic and a pragmatic one).

Considering these three aspects, interconnected and shaping the notion of style, we can see, for example, that Alvaro de Campos, Alberto Caeiro and Ricardo Reis - Pessoa’s pen names - are different poets. The writing of each one (with their dominant and recessive stylistic elements, their embrayages [shifting in] and débrayages [shifting out] identifies and distances them.

Similarly, the semantic reader, the one that Eco (2005, p.224)10 10 ECO. U. On Literature. Translated by Martin McLaughlin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. points out as the first-level reader, who only reads the text, can (by discerning, even if not analytically, an author’s brand) recognise whether the following poem is by Carlos Drummond de Andrade or Manoel de Barros:

To be great, a creature depends on its own desertion. We are created by sentences! Writing is full of peel and pearl. Ah! I have always been waste. What a joy it is catching snails on decaying walls! A thing with no name to explain it. Like a light that vegetates in a bird’s clothing.11 11 Original text: “Depende a criatura para ter grandeza de sua infinita deserção. / A gente é cria de frases! / Escrever é cheio de casca e de pérola. / Ai desde gema sou borra. / Alegria é apanhar caracóis nas paredes bichadas! Coisa que não faz nome para explicar. Como a luz que vegeta na roupa do pássaro.”

This semantic reader can discover, by intuition or even by contagion, as Tolstoy defines it (2011, p.97)12 12 TOLSTOY, L. Last Steps: The Late Writings of Leo Tolstoy. Edited by Jay Parini. New York: Penguin, 2009. - the feeling embedded in a work of art turned real by that reader when he experiences it -, who the author of the poem is. The semiotic, or second-level reader, equally theorised by Eco (2005, p.224),13 13 For reference, see footnote 10. examines the text in depth, interested in how it was constructed. He is therefore a “critical reader,” and, in this condition, he easily recognises in the cited poem a form and content inherent in Manoel de Barros’ (2016a, p.39)BARROS, M. de. Arranjos para assobio. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016a. work, that is, the recurrence of elements in his style and, consequently, his unique writing, distinct from all others.

By the way, in the poem Igual-Desigual, [Equal-Unequal] Drummond (1980, p.59) affirms:

All sonnets, gazels, virelays, sestinas and rondos are alike and all, all poems in free verse are boringly alike. [...] All creations of nature are alike. All actions, cruel, pious or indifferent, are alike. However, man is not like another man, animal or thing. He is not like anything. Every human being is a unique stranger.14 14 Original text: “Todos os sonetos, gazéis, virelais, sextinas e rondós são iguais / e todos, todos os poemas em verso livre são enfadonhamente iguais. [...] Todas as criações da natureza são iguais. / Todas as ações, cruéis, piedosas ou indiferentes, são iguais. / Contudo, o homem não é igual a nenhum outro homem, bicho ou coisa. / Ninguém é igual a ninguém. / Todo o ser humano é um estranho ímpar.”.

If all poems in free verse are boringly alike, including among them the poems of Drummond and Manoel de Barros, the only way to differentiate them, and consequently, to recognise their authors, is precisely because of their distinctive form, the “unique stranger” that each poet is, who, guided by the mechanism of anticipation - conscious or not -, in line with his “poetics” and style, is able to materialise them.

It is no coincidence that the same thing takes place with consumer goods in the context of the market. A product is recognised and then consumed due to the striking and distinctive features that characterise it. As Chevalier and Mazzalovo (2003, p.25)15 15 For reference, see footnote 6. argue, “the common objective of brands is to introduce differentiation” and, for this reason, brands “are an unavoidable reality.” Defining and managing them are rules of the game (in our case, rules of art).

The Precarious: A Vital Stylistic Trait in Manoel de Barros

However, how to present a product with its brand, gain consumer preference and keep their loyalty? Or, how to present a literary style and, after anchoring it to the sensibility of its readers, keep on captivating them?

For an author’'s style to establish itself, it must ratify its most relevant peculiar traits (and the traits that make its brand well-known), which requires a complex balance between repetition and variation. The first, in high dosage, will turn the author, over time, into a copy of himself, at times a pastiche, a decal, a risk that every artist invariably runs. The second, if exaggerated or equally scarce, often distances the writer from the style that earned him recognition - or worse, distances him from his self, from his literary personality, so hard to establish and maintain. Manoel de Barros (2016b, p.16)_______. O livro das ignorãças. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016b., in one of his poems in Livro das ignorãças [Book of Ignorances], emphasises: “Repeat, repeat - until it’s different. / To repeat is a talent of style.”16 16 Original text: “Repetir, repetir - até ficar diferente / repetir é um dom do estilo.”

It is no coincidence that the poet from Mato Grosso turned repetition (of themes, linguistic procedures, lyrical devices, etc.) not only into a talent of his style, but into his strategy of survival to remain alive in the literary world. By repeating, with small variations in the form of poetry his homage to the particularities of the fauna and flora of his original locus, his roots in the Pantanal, Manoel de Barros reinforces the layers of singularity that make his work distinct from others.

One of the essential elements of this strategy is his obsessive way - which can be verified through his uninterrupted repetition - of mobilising elements of the universe of the precarious. In all of his poetry books - except for the first two, when he was still building his literary personality, both still in decantation according to Moriconi (2016 pp.7-10)MORICONI, I. Poesia do aquém. In. BARROS, M. de. Poemas concebidos sem pecado e Face imóvel. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016. - there is an abundant number of poems that address the “precarious” particularities of nature in the Pantanal: snails, ants, birds, tree stumps and muddy critters, always in harmony with many expressions that subvert the linguistic logic, like the following one, extracted from Livro das Ignorãças [Book of Ignorances] (Barros, 2016b_______. O livro das ignorãças. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016b.): “Today I draw the smell of trees,” “It is like being dawned to birds,” “The silence of stones has no volume,” “It was then that I started to teach the swallows.”17 17 “Hoje eu desenho o cheiro das árvores”; “É como estar amanhecido a pássaros”; “Não tem altura o silêncio das pedras”; “Foi então que comecei a lecionar andorinhas.” Many other examples can be found throughout his poetic work.

Among dozens of other poems by Manoel de Barros, Autorretrato Falado [Composite Self-Portrait] accurately reveals his authorial choices:

I come from a Cuiabá of mines and crooked alleyways. My father had a shop on Beco da Marinha, where I was born. I grew up in the Pantanal of Corumbá among ground critters, birds, humble people, trees and rivers. I enjoy living in decadent places for the sake of being among stones and lizards. I have already published 10 poetry books: when I publish them, I feel a little disgraced and I escape to the Pantanal where I am blessed by herons. My entire life I've been looking for but couldn't find myself - and this is what saved me. I'm not in the gutter only because I inherited a cattle ranch. The oxen recreate me. Now I'm such a twilight! I am in a category of moral suffering because I only do useless things. In my dying there is a tree pain (BARROS, 2016b_______. O livro das ignorãças. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016b., p.79).18 18 Original text: “Venho de um Cuiabá de garimpos e de ruelas entortadas./Meu pai teve uma venda no Beco da Marinha, onde nasci./Me criei no Pantanal de Corumbá entre bichos do chão,/aves, pessoas humildes, árvores e rios./Aprecio viver em lugares decadentes por gosto de estar/entre pedras e lagartos./Já publiquei 10 livros de poesia: ao publicá-los me sinto/meio desonrado e fujo para o Pantanal onde sou/abençoado a garças./Me procurei a vida inteira e não me achei - pelo que /fui salvo./Não estou na sarjeta porque herdei uma fazenda de gado./Os bois me recriam./Agora eu sou tão ocaso!/Estou na categoria de sofrer do moral porque só faço/coisas inúteis./No meu morrer tem uma dor de árvore”

In this self-portrait, as in the whole production of this poet (from his third book onwards, as we have already said), it is possible to note the appearance and ratification of traits prevalent in his style: 1) the greatness of what is insignificant in the natural world (ground critters, birds, lizards, etc.); 2) syntactic constructions that are unexpected - but that, because of their style, are expected by those who consume his poetry -, such as “I am blessed by herons,” “the oxen recreate me,” “I'm such a twilight,” “my dying has a tree pain”; 3) the vocabulary of support, equally adjusted to the precarious (“crooked alleyways,” “decadent places,” “useless things”).

Let us look at another expressive example of his style, which, thus representing it, is recognisable by its consumer, since the poet, guided by the mechanism of anticipation, knew he had to consider the consumer’s sensibility - because, as we saw in Compagnon (2004),19 19 For reference, see footnote 3. the reader predicts his author:

My world is small, Lord. There is a river and a few trees. The back of our house faces the water. Ants trim the edge of Grandmother’s rose beds. In the backyard, there is a boy and his wondrous tin cans. His eye exaggerates the blue. Everything from this place has a pact with birds. Here if the horizon reddens a little, the beetles think it’s a fire. Where the river starts a fish, river me a thing River me a frog River me a tree. In the evenings, an old man plays his flute to invert the sunsets (BARROS, 2016b_______. O livro das ignorãças. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016b., p.51).20 20 Original text: “O mundo meu é pequeno, Senhor. / Tem um rio e um pouco de árvores. / Nossa casa foi feita de costas para o rio. /Formigas recortam roseiras da avó. / Nos fundos do quintal há um menino e suas latas /maravilhosas. / Todas as coisas deste lugar já estão/ comprometidas /com aves. / Aqui, se o horizonte enrubesce um pouco, os / besouros pensam que estão no incêndio / Quando o rio está começando um peixe, / Ele me coisa/Ele me rã / Ele me árvore. / De tarde um velho tocará sua flauta para inverter / os ocasos.” Poem translated by Idra Novey. [BARROS, M. Birds for a Demolition. Translated by Idra Novey. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010.]

Here are the details of daily life and of the geographical territory where the poet lived and that charmed him (“my world is small,” “a river and a few trees,” “ants trim the edge of Grandmother’s rose beds,” “beetles think,” etc.), the original way Manoel de Barros expresses himself (“everything … has a pact with birds,” “the river starts a fish,” “river me a thing”, “river me a frog,” “river me a tree,” etc.), the great expanse of his Pantanal dammed into a domestic glossary (“the house,” “the river,” “Grandmother,” “the backyard,” “a boy,” “tin cans,” “the horizon,” “an old man”).

While still seeking to consolidate his style, Manoel de Barros, in his second book, Face imóvel [Still Face] (1942), wrote the poem Os girassóis de Van Gogh [Van Gogh’s Sunflowers]:

Today I saw Soldiers singing on roads of blood Freshness of mornings in the eyes of children Women chewing dead hopes Today I saw men at dusk Receiving love in their chests. Today I saw men receiving war Receiving tears like bullets in their chests. And as the pain lowered my head, I saw Van Gogh’s blazing sunflowers (BARROS, 2016c_______. Poemas concebidos sem pecado e Face imóvel. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016c., p.55).21 21 Original text: “Hoje eu vi / Soldados cantando por estradas de sangue / Frescura de manhãs em olhos de crianças / Mulheres mastigando as esperanças mortas / Hoje eu vi homens ao crepúsculo / Recebendo o amor no peito. / Hoje eu vi homens recebendo a guerra / Recebendo o pranto como balas no peito / E, como a dor me abaixasse a cabeça, / Eu vi os girassóis ardentes de Van Gogh.”

Decades later, the poet would face the same theme, but this time, with an already well-developed style, he dispenses the grandiose tone and verbosity, concentrating his poetic power, backed by details, in one single verse that defies conventional grammar (Barros, 2016b_______. O livro das ignorãças. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016b., p.17):

A sunflower appropriated God: it was in Van Gogh.22 22 Original text: “Um girassol se apropriou de Deus: foi em Van Gogh.”

This comparison allows us to prove that a literary work is not established - and who grants it permanence is the reader -, if its author does not invest, through repetition and variation, on the structuring beams of his style.

Even in the last works he published, Menino do mato [Boy from the Jungle] and Escritos em verbal de ave, [Writings in Bird Language], Manoel de Barros would use this complex balance between repetition and variation of the constituent elements of his style, thus maintaining the differential brand of his literary product.

In Short: Consumption is Maintained Thanks to the Precarious

To conclude, let us go back to Benedetti’s poem (1994, p.117)BENEDETTI, M. Antología poética. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1994., which, in its last few verses, enunciates, in our view, the position of a poet from the Pantanal before the literary universe, that is, how he maintained his differentiating brand: “My strategy is/ deeper and simpler/ my strategy is/ that any day/ I do not know how nor/ with what pretext/ you may finally need me.”23 23 Original text: “mi estrategia es en cambio/más profunda y más/ simple mi estrategia es/que un día/ cualquiera/no sé cómo ni sé/con qué pretexto/por fin me necesites

By moving away from great themes, or rather, by approaching them through small details, Manoel de Barros gives us a poetic work that ignores current hegemony. If we recall that consumption, according to Douglas and Isherwood (2006)DOUGLAS, M.; ISHERWOOD, B. O mundo dos bens. Trad. Plínio Dentzen. Rio de Janeiro: Editora UFRJ, 2006.,24 24 DOUGLAS, M.; ISHERWOOD, B. The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption. London: Allen Lane, 1979. is a code of values which generates a sense of belonging among people (CANCLINI, 1995CANCLINI, N. G. Consumidores e cidadãos: conflitos multiculturais da globalização. Trad. Maurício Santana Dias. Rio de Janeiro: Editora UFRJ, 1995.),25 25 CANCLINI, N. G. Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. his poetry, produced with the semantics of the precarious, becomes a valuable consumer item for readers who are resistant to the poetry of great themes and noble verses. We might add that, as he was aware of the existence of an economy of discourses, he chose to put into circulation a scarce commodity, since he was opposed to dominant poetry, achieving distinction by taking the position of a guardian of the waters of the Pantanal, just like Pessoa turned Caeiro into his guardian of herds.

Herberto Helder (2010, pp.12-13)HELDER, H. Os passos em volta. Rio de Janeiro: Azougue, 2010., another important Portuguese poet, advises: “seek your own style if you don't want to fail.”26 26 Original text: “Procure o seu estilo, se não quer dar em pantanas.” For him, style “is a subtle way of transferring the confusion and violence of life to the mental plane of a unit of signification.” By forming his own style for decades, Manoel de Barros turned the greatness of the insignificant into his unit of signification - and assumed that being a poet, as in the conception of Mario Quintana (2013, p.155)QUINTANA, M. Caderno H. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2013., “is not saying great things, but having a voice recognisable in the midst of all others.”27 27 Original text: “Ser poeta não é dizer grandes coisas, mas ter uma voz reconhecível dentre todas as outras.”

Dragging, like a snail, the world of precarious things into the production of his discourse, the poet from the Pantanal leads the reader to relish in consuming a great quantity of statements of his “thingal, larval, stony dialect”28 28 Original text: “[...] um dialeto coisal, larval, pedral” (BARROS, 2013_______. O guardador de águas. São Paulo: LeYa, 2013., p.42). His penchant for the lesser, for the small, for the tiny, indisputably became a broad-ranging strategy for his poetry.

  • 1
    INGLIS, F. A Short History of Celebrity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.
  • 2
    Cf. in Brief History of Celebrity (Inglis, 2010. p.57) some of the “effects and conditions of celebrity: public recognisability, the interplay of envy, admiration, generous acclaim, malicious denigration, prurient attentiveness, swift indifference.”
  • 3
    COMPAGNON, A. Literature, Theory, and Common Sense. Translated by Carol Cosman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
  • 4
    Original text: “[…] todo sujeito tem a capacidade de experimentar, ou melhor, de colocar-se no lugar em que o seu interlocutor “ouve” suas palavras. Ele antecipa-se assim a seu interlocutor quanto ao sentido que suas palavras produzem. […] Este espectro varia amplamente desde a previsão de um interlocutor que é seu cúmplice até aquele que, no outro extremo, ele prevê como adversário absoluto.”
  • 5
    Original text: “O estudo do público, isto é, dos mercados, é de três ordens — econômico, psicológico e propriamente social. Isto é, para entrar num mercado, seja doméstico ou estranho, é preciso: 1) saber as condições de aceitação econômica do artigo, e aquelas em que trabalha, e em que oferece, a concorrência; 2) conhecer a índole dos compradores, para, à parte questões de preço, saber qual a melhor forma de apresentar, de distribuir e de reclamar o artigo; 3) averiguar quais as circunstâncias especiais, se as houver, que, de ordem profunda e social ou política, ou superficial e de moda ou de momento, obrigam a determinadas correções no resultado dos dois estudos anteriores.”
  • 6
    CHEVALIER, M.; MAZZALOVO, G. Pro Logo: Brands as a Factor of Progress. New York: Springer, 2003.
  • 7
    Original text: “Mi táctica/ es quedarme en tu recuerdo/ no sé cómo ni sé/ con qué pretexto/ pero quedarme en vos.”
  • 8
    For reference, see footnote 3 3 COMPAGNON, A. Literature, Theory, and Common Sense. Translated by Carol Cosman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. .
  • 9
    For reference, see footnote 3 3 COMPAGNON, A. Literature, Theory, and Common Sense. Translated by Carol Cosman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. .
  • 10
    ECO. U. On Literature. Translated by Martin McLaughlin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005.
  • 11
    Original text: “Depende a criatura para ter grandeza de sua infinita deserção. / A gente é cria de frases! / Escrever é cheio de casca e de pérola. / Ai desde gema sou borra. / Alegria é apanhar caracóis nas paredes bichadas! Coisa que não faz nome para explicar. Como a luz que vegeta na roupa do pássaro.”
  • 12
    TOLSTOY, L. Last Steps: The Late Writings of Leo Tolstoy. Edited by Jay Parini. New York: Penguin, 2009.
  • 13
    For reference, see footnote 10 10 ECO. U. On Literature. Translated by Martin McLaughlin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. .
  • 14
    Original text: “Todos os sonetos, gazéis, virelais, sextinas e rondós são iguais / e todos, todos os poemas em verso livre são enfadonhamente iguais. [...] Todas as criações da natureza são iguais. / Todas as ações, cruéis, piedosas ou indiferentes, são iguais. / Contudo, o homem não é igual a nenhum outro homem, bicho ou coisa. / Ninguém é igual a ninguém. / Todo o ser humano é um estranho ímpar.”.
  • 15
    For reference, see footnote 6 6 CHEVALIER, M.; MAZZALOVO, G. Pro Logo: Brands as a Factor of Progress. New York: Springer, 2003. .
  • 16
    Original text: “Repetir, repetir - até ficar diferente / repetir é um dom do estilo.”
  • 17
    “Hoje eu desenho o cheiro das árvores”; “É como estar amanhecido a pássaros”; “Não tem altura o silêncio das pedras”; “Foi então que comecei a lecionar andorinhas.”
  • 18
    Original text: “Venho de um Cuiabá de garimpos e de ruelas entortadas./Meu pai teve uma venda no Beco da Marinha, onde nasci./Me criei no Pantanal de Corumbá entre bichos do chão,/aves, pessoas humildes, árvores e rios./Aprecio viver em lugares decadentes por gosto de estar/entre pedras e lagartos./Já publiquei 10 livros de poesia: ao publicá-los me sinto/meio desonrado e fujo para o Pantanal onde sou/abençoado a garças./Me procurei a vida inteira e não me achei - pelo que /fui salvo./Não estou na sarjeta porque herdei uma fazenda de gado./Os bois me recriam./Agora eu sou tão ocaso!/Estou na categoria de sofrer do moral porque só faço/coisas inúteis./No meu morrer tem uma dor de árvore”
  • 19
    For reference, see footnote 3 3 COMPAGNON, A. Literature, Theory, and Common Sense. Translated by Carol Cosman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. .
  • 20
    Original text: “O mundo meu é pequeno, Senhor. / Tem um rio e um pouco de árvores. / Nossa casa foi feita de costas para o rio. /Formigas recortam roseiras da avó. / Nos fundos do quintal há um menino e suas latas /maravilhosas. / Todas as coisas deste lugar já estão/ comprometidas /com aves. / Aqui, se o horizonte enrubesce um pouco, os / besouros pensam que estão no incêndio / Quando o rio está começando um peixe, / Ele me coisa/Ele me rã / Ele me árvore. / De tarde um velho tocará sua flauta para inverter / os ocasos.” Poem translated by Idra Novey. [BARROS, M. Birds for a Demolition. Translated by Idra Novey. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010.]
  • 21
    Original text: “Hoje eu vi / Soldados cantando por estradas de sangue / Frescura de manhãs em olhos de crianças / Mulheres mastigando as esperanças mortas / Hoje eu vi homens ao crepúsculo / Recebendo o amor no peito. / Hoje eu vi homens recebendo a guerra / Recebendo o pranto como balas no peito / E, como a dor me abaixasse a cabeça, / Eu vi os girassóis ardentes de Van Gogh.”
  • 22
    Original text: “Um girassol se apropriou de Deus: foi em Van Gogh.”
  • 23
    Original text: “mi estrategia es en cambio/más profunda y más/ simple mi estrategia es/que un día/ cualquiera/no sé cómo ni sé/con qué pretexto/por fin me necesites
  • 24
    DOUGLAS, M.; ISHERWOOD, B. The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption. London: Allen Lane, 1979.
  • 25
    CANCLINI, N. G. Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
  • 26
    Original text: “Procure o seu estilo, se não quer dar em pantanas.”
  • 27
    Original text: “Ser poeta não é dizer grandes coisas, mas ter uma voz reconhecível dentre todas as outras.”
  • 28
    Original text: “[...] um dialeto coisal, larval, pedral”
  • Translated by Martim Heuser - info@martinheuser.com

REFERÊNCIAS

  • ANDRADE, C. D. de. A paixão medida 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 1980.
  • BARROS, M. de. Arranjos para assobio Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016a.
  • _______. O guardador de águas. São Paulo: LeYa, 2013.
  • _______. O livro das ignorãças. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016b.
  • _______. Poemas concebidos sem pecado e Face imóvel. Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016c.
  • BENEDETTI, M. Antología poética Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1994.
  • BOURDIEU, P. As regras da arte - Gênese e estrutura do campo literário. Trad. Maria Lucia Machado. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1996.
  • CANCLINI, N. G. Consumidores e cidadãos: conflitos multiculturais da globalização. Trad. Maurício Santana Dias. Rio de Janeiro: Editora UFRJ, 1995.
  • CHEVALIER, M.; MAZZALOVO, G. Pró-Logo - Marcas como fator de progresso. Trad. Roberto Galman. São Paulo: Panda Books, 2007.
  • COMPAGNON, A. O demônio da teoria: literatura e senso comum. Trad. Cleonice Paes Barreto Mourão. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 1999.
  • DOUGLAS, M.; ISHERWOOD, B. O mundo dos bens Trad. Plínio Dentzen. Rio de Janeiro: Editora UFRJ, 2006.
  • ECO, U. Sobre literatura Trad. Eliana Aguiar. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2003.
  • HELDER, H. Os passos em volta Rio de Janeiro: Azougue, 2010.
  • INGLIS, F. Breve história da celebridade Trad. Eneida Vieira Santos e Simone Campos. Rio de Janeiro: Versal Editores, 2012.
  • MORICONI, I. Poesia do aquém. In. BARROS, M. de. Poemas concebidos sem pecado e Face imóvel Rio de Janeiro: Alfaguara, 2016.
  • ORLANDI, E. P. Análise de discurso Princípios & procedimentos. 6. ed. Campinas: Pontes, 2005.
  • PESSOA, F. A arte do comércio. In. BERARDINELLI C. (Org.). Fernando Pessoa -Alguma prosa 5. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1990.
  • QUINTANA, M. Caderno H Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2013.
  • TOLSTÓI, L. Os últimos dias de Tolstói Trad. Anastassia Bytsenko et al. São Paulo: Penguin/Companhia, 2011.

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    Jan-Apr 2018

History

  • Received
    03 July 2017
  • Accepted
    18 Nov 2017
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