Ana Cristina Cesar, a female Brazilian poet, translator and art critic, was an important character in Brazilian literary history, actively contributing to the political and intellectual discussions of her time.
Endowed
with a privileged critical conscience, she believed that Literature and life
were inseparable. In the 1970s, she stood out for her intimate poetry marked by
informality and her talent for different aspects of intellectual activity.
Ana C, as she was also known, belonged to the group called “Mimeograph Generation” or “Marginal Poetry”, inspired by the
counterculture movements. The main characteristic of this generation was the
search for alternative means for the circulation of their works, as the big
publishers kept their doors closed to these writers.
A revolutionary and “outside the system” movement
“Marginal Poetry”, a Brazilian literary movement of the 1970s and
1980s, got its name not because it was from the periphery, but because of the
format in which its works were published and disseminated, that is, on the
margins of the publishing market. It flourished in a troubled political moment
and under the censorship imposed by the military dictatorship.
This poetic production “outside the system” was disseminated by the poets themselves from small print runs of mimeographed copies distributed from hand to hand in the streets and squares, or even thrown from the top of buildings. They also sold their art at low cost, in bars, squares, theaters, cinemas, universities and so on.
The
writers and poets of that time had to deal with the violence of the dictatorship
– both the visible, in the streets repressing citizens, and the invisible,
which was observed in the mass media. Instead of the classic national themes,
addressed by conventional Literature, the authors sought inspiration in
subjects such as everyday life, skin color, body and sexuality. This certainly
did not please the military.
The production of these poets also reflected the yearnings and anguish of a generation that experienced the implementation of the Institutional Act Number Five, AI-5, and, consequently, could no longer report their stories due to the intense rigor of the censorship. They often criticized the established notion of poetry and the requirement for a reader well prepared to understand their texts.
The
everyday and erotic theme was full of sarcasm, humor, irony, profanity and
slang from the periphery. Marginal poets refused any literary model and
therefore did not “fit” into any school or literary tradition.
The anthology 26 poets today, by Heloísa Buarque de Hollanda
With
the publication of the book 26 poets
today, in 1975, Heloísa Buarque de
Hollanda, master and doctor in Brazilian Literature, brought together the
main marginal writers of the time in an anthology that gave them visibility and
provoked a lot of controversy because a good part of the critics did not
consider it as poetry the texts selected by her. In 1976, thanks to this book,
Ana Cristina Cesar gained greater visibility and fame. Heloísa Buarque would
later become her master's supervisor.
The
Spanish publishing house Labor,
recently arrived in Brazil, invited Heloísa to organize an anthology with the
poetry of the so-called Sons of
Dictatorship. It would be the first launch of the Brazilian branch. As a
result, Marginal Poetry entered the commercial circuit with the endorsement of
a major publishing house, which ensured its distribution. This critical
presentation contributed to legitimize Marginal Poetry.
A stranger in the nest or a nest stranger to her?
Ana Cristina differed from this group by her own writing style, strongly influenced by the reading of renowned writers and her experience with criticism and translation. The place of Literature, for the author, was a place of resistance. Resistance also to the place where she came from, the middle class of the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, which did not represent her or, at least, for which she did not want to represent herself. Being in a “special” place within Marginal Poetry also bothered her. She liked to write and to be read, but she avoided showing up. It is inevitable not to notice, in the lyrics of her poems, how this exposure bothered her.
The unique characteristics of her writing
Critics
and scholars point to her solid theoretical and academic background as one of
the distinguishing elements of her work. Her texts are characterized by a
confessional discourse, colloquial tone, irony and fragmentation. Due to her
vast intellectual repertoire, her poetry has transcended ideological agendas.
Ana
created her own diction, which combined prose and poetry, pop and high
Literature, the intimate and the universal, the masculine and the feminine. Due
to a unique aesthetic sense, she differentiated herself from her
contemporaries. In this sense, her work has unique characteristics, which would
not allow her to be fully considered as a marginal poet.
For
some scholars, her literary production does not completely break with
conventional models and in her can be found references to renowned authors of
national and international Literature.
The letter and the diary, two genres marked by intimacy and sometimes considered minor, stand out in Ana Cristina's poetics. In her letters, the writer had a definite addressee, someone to whom she not only made confessions, but also dealt with various subjects. Her diary writing describes everyday situations.
Daily life is presented in her texts as a need to write a diary through poetry. Diary of emotions, of invasions of her own soul, of talking about human body, preferably her. This sometimes brings her regret for having told the fact, but it resonates with relief at having been exposed.
Between
diary fragments, fictitious letters, travel notebooks, bold summaries, prose
texts and lyrical poems, Ana Cristina captivated her interlocutors, in a
permanent game of veiling and unveiling.
Early poems of a child born a poet
As
a child, at Bennett High School,
where her mother was a teacher, Ana Cristina showed a talent for Literature. In
1956, at just four years old, she recited her first verses to her mother
because she still did not have the mastery of writing.
Her
first publication of poems, at the age of seven, was in the Rio de Janeiro
newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa (Press
Tribune). She completed primary and secondary school at the same school, from
1961 to 1963, where she created the newspaper Juventude Infantil (Children's Youth).
The poem Uma poesia de criança (a child's poetry) was one of the first to be published. The composition, with five stanzas, appeared in August 1958 in the school bulletin aimed at early childhood teachers at Bennett High School.
Contact with English Literature and her interest in translation
In
1969, Ana Cristina Cesar did an exchange program in England and spent a period
at the University of Essex, in
London, with a scholarship granted by Protestant institutions. The contact with
English Literature aroused her interest in the translation of literary pieces.
Suicide, the tragic end of an intense and productive life
On
October 29, 1983, at the age of 31, Ana Cristina César threw herself from the
seventh floor window of the building where her parents lived. Forty minutes
before this act, Ana received a call from the poet and friend Armando Freitas Filho.
The
suicide was, symbolically, the seal placed on her life as a poet, which, added
to her poetry, transformed the figure of Ana Cristina César into a kind of
myth. On the other hand, this brought a negative presupposition to her work and
guided critics and readers to welcome her poetry as the writings of a potential
suicide who, little by little, reveals her intentions.
Short biography
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Ana
graduated in Letters from the Pontifical
Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, in 1975, and completed her master's
degree at the UFRJ School of
Communication. In 1975, Heloisa Buarque de Hollanda, also her teacher,
would include her in the anthology 26
poets today, a selection of talented representatives of the generation of
that decade.
Cesar
began publishing poems and poetic prose texts in the 1970s in collections,
magazines and alternative newspapers. Her first books, Cenas de Abril (April scenes) and Correspondência Completa (Complete correspondence), were released
in independent editions.
Used and suggested links
Quem foi Ana Cristina Cesar – a escritora ícone da poesia marginal brasileira
Ana Cristina Cesar - Mundo educação
A teus pés: os poemas feministas de Ana Cristina Cesar
Língua de partida: três poemas de Ana Cristina César traduzidos para o inglês por Brenda Hillman
