Article from 2016.
Ancient Greek literature has been studied in Brazilian college language courses for a long time and it is often translated by specialist scholars. However Modern Greek poetry is not as popular amongst Brazilians as ancient Greek literature; in fact, it would almost not have any presence if it was not for Cavafy’s poetry, which is now an important part of modern literary Brazilian culture.
Cavafy’s poetry was introduced to Brazilian readers by the Portuguese modernist poet Jorge de Sena (1919-1978), who came to Brazil in 1959, when Portugal was under Salazar’s dictatorship, and, as part of the resistance, he found himself in the imminence of an arrestment. Later, when in 1964 Brazil went through its own military dictatorship, he went to the United States.
Sena translated to Portuguese about 90 of the 154 of Cavafy’s poems, although his translation was from English rather than Greek.
In the 80’s, Brazil entered an era of poetical translation, which included French poets like Mallarme, whose A throw of the dice never will abolish chance is his most influential poem, and Baudelaire’s collection of poems entitled Flowers of evil. The translation of English language poets, not only from Europe but also from the United States, has always been a tradition in Brazil; because of Cavafy’s popularity due to his introduction in Brazil by Jorge de Sena, Jose Paulo Paes (1926-1998) translated 75 of his poems directly from Greek.
Greece might be a Brazilian tourist’s dream destination but it is still an unexplored literary culture. Odysseus Elytis was also translated by Jose Paulo Paes as part of a Modern Greek poets collection book (one volume that today is out-of-print); but writers like Giorgos Seferis, Yannis Ritsos, and Kiki Dimoula are still waiting to be translated. In 2011 Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis was finally translated to Portuguese directly from Greek. Of course, there is also the work done by the Greek embassy, which regularly promotes Greek culture and presents some poems translations, but it only has a short reach within its own community.
