MACHADO DE ASSIS
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was bom in the young nation's capital, the royal court city of Rio de Janeiro, on june 21,1839. Regarded as the premier literary figure ofBrazil, he was the son ofa Portuguese washerwoman from São Miguel, Azores, and a mulatto house-painter father. Not only did Machado have poverty to contend with while growing up, but he also suffered a lifetime of myopia, epilepsy, and shyness. He made up for his meager
formal education by working as a printer's apprentice, first typesetting, then proofreading, and finally composing and publishing his own work. Enthralled with books, especially novéis, Machado learned Latin from a caring priest and French from a baker in exchange for running errands for them. He was married to Carolina Xavier de Novais, a Portuguese, in 1869, and although they had no children, they lived happily together and were ever devoted to one another until her death in 1904.
Machado began his writing career during the romantic era, producing a large literary corpus that includes such genres as theater, translation, criticism, and poetry (four volumes). But he is best known for his crônicas (newspaper columns), short stories, and novels (nine altogether). Especially important are the last five (written during the realist period), where, with subtle irony, lie explores the mediocrity found among some members of the upper middle classes who, while enjoying all the benefits of health, wealth, and education contributed nothing to society.
Machado de Assis rose to high office in the Ministry of Transportation and was honored as the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, an office he held until his death in 1908.
Poemas translated by Frederic G. William
(POETS OF BRAZIL – A Bilingual Selection – New York: Luso Brazilian Books)
Brighm Young University Studies, Provo, Utah, USA; Editora da Universidade Feral da Bahia, Salvador, Brasil.
Círculo vicioso
Bailando no ar, gemia inquieto vaga-lume
"Quem me dera que fosse aquela loura estrela,
Que arde no eterno azul, como uma eterna vela!"
Mas a estrela, fitando a lua, com ciúme:
"Pudesse eu copiar o transparente lume,
Que, da grega coluna à gótica janela,
Contemplou, suspirosa, a fronte amada e bela!"
Mas a lua, fitando o sol, com azedume:
"Mísera! tivesse eu aquela enorme, aquela
Claridade imortal, que toda a luz resume!"
Mas o sol, inclinando a rútila capela:
"Pesa-me esta brilhante auréola de nume ...
Enfara-me esta azul e desmedida umbela ...
Por que não nasci eu um simples vaga-lume?"
Vicious Circle
The firefly danced in the air impatiently:
"Oh how I wish that I could be that yellow,
That burns in the eternal blue, a candle far!"
And yet the star gazed on the moon with jealousy:
"If only I could copy such transparency,
Which, from the Grecian column to the Gothic sill,
Has contemplated lovers' faces sighingly!"
And yet the moon gazed on the sun with bitter will:
"Oh misery! If l could be that giant ball,
Immortal clarity, the sum of all that's light!"
The sun, though, leans his brilliant chaplet o´er the wall:
I´m burdened by this numen's aureole bright…
Pm wearied by this blue, unbounded parasol…
Why could I not be born a firefly at night?"
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O casamento do diabo
Imitação do alemão
Satã teve um dia a idéia
De casar. Que original!
Queria mulher não feia,
Virgem corpo, alma leal.
Toma um conselho de amigo,
Não te cases, Belzebu;
Que a mulher, com ser humana
E mais fina do que tu.
Resolvido no projeto,
Para vê-lo realizar,
Quis procurar objeto
Próprio do seu paladar.
Toma um conselho de amigo,
Não te cases, Belzebu;
Que a mulher, com ser humana
E mais fina do que tu.
Cortou unhas, cortou rabo,
Cortou as pontas, e após
Saiu o nosso diabo
Como o herói dos heróis.
Toma um conselho de amigo,
Não te cases, Belzebu;
Que a mulher, com ser humana
É mais fina do que tu.
Casar era a sua dita;
Correu por terra e por mar,
Encontrou mulher bonita
E tratou de a requestar.
Toma um conselho de amigo,
Não te cases, Belzebu;
Que a mulher, com ser humana
E mais fina do que tu.
Ele quis, ela queria,
Puseram mão sobre mão,
E na melhor harmonia
Verificou-se a união.
Toma um conselho de amigo,
Não te cases, Belzebu;
Que a mulher, com ser humana
E mais fina do que tu.
Passou-se um ano, e ao diabo,
Não lhe cresceram por fim,
Nem as unhas, nem o rabo ...
Mas as pontas, essas sim.
Toma um conselho de amigo,
Não te cases, Belzebu;
Que a mulher, com ser humana
E mais fina do que tu.
The Devil´s Wedding
In ímitation of the German
Satan had the thought one day
To marry. How original!
He wished no ugly woman, nay,
A faithful soul, and virginal.
Take the counsel of a friend,
No marriage, Beelzebub, pursue;
Because a woman, as she's human
Is finer more genteel than you.
But he resolved upon this project,
Desired to see it come to pass,
And so he sought to win the object
That met his tastes, a bonny lass.
Take the counsel of a friend,
No marriage, Beelzebub, pursue;
Because a woman, as she's human
Is finer more genteel than you.
He cut his nails, he cut his tail,
He cut his horns, and then somehow
Our devil turned into a male
A hero of all heroes now.
Take the counsel of a friend,
No marriage, Beelzebub, pursue;
Because a woman, as she's human
Is finer more genteel than you.
To marry was his sole desire;
He traveled over sea and land,
He found a beauty to inspire
And made arrangements for her hand.
Take the counsel of a friend,
No marriage, Beelzebub, pursue;
Because a woman, as she's human
Is finer more genteel than you.
He was willing, she agreed,
They joined each other's hands as one,
In harmony they did succeed
To tie the knot; the deed was done.
Take the counsel of a friend,
No marriage, Beelzebub, pursue;
Because a woman, as she's human
Is finer more genteel than you.
A year went by, and Satan found,
No parts grew back, nothing at all,
No nails, no tail that curved around ...
Except his horns, yes they grew tall.
Take the counsel of a friend,
No marriage, Beelzebub, pursue;
Because a woman, as she's human
Is finer more genteel than you.
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A Carolina
Querida, ao pé do leito derradeiro
Em que descansas dessa longa vida,
Aqui venho e virei, pobre querida,
Trazer-te o coração do companheiro.
Pulsa-lhe aquele afeto verdadeiro
Que, a despeito de toda a humana lida,
Fez a nossa existência apetecida
E num recanto pôs um mundo inteiro.
Trago-te flores,—restos arrancados
Da terra que nos viu passar unidos
E ora mortos nos deixa e separados.
Que eu, se tenho nos olhos malferidos
Pensamentos de vida formulados,
São pensamentos idos e vividos.
To Carolina
My sweet, here at the foot o fyour last bed
In which you're resting now from your long life,
I've come and always will, poor dearest wife,
To bring you the companion's heart you wed.
It pulses from affection tried and true
And which, despite all human drudgery,
Had made our life's existence ecstasy
And brought our home a world for me and you.
I bring you flowers,—remnants plucked now faded
From earth that saw us jointly walk this way
And now has left us dead and separated.
If l, within my wounded eyes today
Still carry thoughts of life I´d formulated,
Those thoughts once lived, but now they've gone away.
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