Poema Sujo

This book makes available the first full-length translation of one of the most important works of poetry to have been written in Latin America in this century. Ferreira Gullar's Poema Sujo (Dirty Poem) is generally regarded to be one of the most important and influential literary works written in Brazil. It is a work which has been translated to several foreign languages, and as such is a work whose influence is growing increasingly greater as it extends the boundaries of its readership. Gullar wrote Dirty Poem in 1975 in Buenos Aires while in political exile. It is a magnificently written long poem which recalls the author's adolescence in the seaside equatorial city of Sao Luis do Maranhao during World War II. It also gives the reader glimpses of a more recent postwar past, of a different but comparable insecurity. The notion of filth, or impurity, in Dirty Poem lies at the heart of the work's significance. It deals openly with the shamefulness of a socio-economic system which abuses its constituents with poverty, fear, greed, sexism, and a host of other ills that plague a modern society. The translation includes a summary of Modern Brazilian Literature development.