A Selection by Frederick G. Williams
“A long and ambivalent history of the Portuguese language in Africa lies at the heart of lusofonia”1 wrote Russell G. Hamilton, a former dean of graduate studies and professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Vanderbilt University. Today, notable writers such as Mia Couto, who was born in Mozambique and was a finalist for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize, represent the vanguard of writers, musicians, filmmakers, and poets throughout the Portuguese-
speaking African world. “Luso refers to a tribe of people present in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, Lusitani, during the centuries preceding the Common era” which leads to Lusophone, a term meaning “Portuguese-speaking.”2
Poetry in this issue of Bridges Alumni Magazine was selected by Frederick G. Williams,3 best known in Portugal for his work on Jorge de Sena and in Brazil for his work on Sousândrade. Williams has also written numerous articles and books and won many awards. He began his prolific academic career at UCLA, taught at University of California, Santa Barbara, and in 1999 came to BYU as the Gerrit de Jong Jr. Distinguished Professor of Luso-Brazilian Studies. He also taught at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and One World University in Maputo, Mozambique.
These selections come from Williams’s five bilingual anthologies, which contain 589 poems. Selections were chosen for their literary merit and include a range of topics, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and political viewpoints.
- Poets of Mozambique: A Bilingual Selection / Poetas de Moçambique: uma seleção bilingue (Provo: BYU Studies, 2006)
- Poets of Angola / Poetas de Angola: uma seleção bilingue (Provo: BYU Studies, 2014)
- Poets of Cape Verde: A Bilingual Selection / Poetas de Cabo Verde: uma seleção bilingue, (Provo: BYU Studies, 2010)
- Poets of São Tomé and Principe: A Bilingual Selection / Poetas de São Tomé e Principe: uma seleção bilingue (Provo: BYU Studies, 2015)
- Poets of Guinea-Bissau: A Bilingual Selection / Poetas da Guiné-Bissau: uma seleção bilingue, (Provo: BYU Studies, 2015)
MaternidadeGlória de Sant’Anna (1925–) Olho-te: és negra. Tu sabes e eu sei: Quando soar a hora seremos tão iguais, tão verdadeiras, Que este sorriso de hoje, Dos nossos ventres altos, E ambas estamos certas Um denso azul silêncio, 1965 | MaternityGlória de Sant’Anna (1925–) I look at you: you are black. You know and I know: When the time calls we will be so alike, so true, That today’s smile, From our elevated wombs, And both of us are sure Um denso azul silêncio, 1965 |
Naus sem rumoAmílcar Cabral (1924–1973) Dispersas, Qual naus da antiguidade, Ao vento, à tempestade, São dez as caravelas —Onde ides naus da Fome, —Onde ides? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sem rumo e sem ter fito, [Mindelo, 1943] | Ships Without DirectionAmílcar Cabral (1924–1973) Dispersed, Like ships from long ago, Into the wind, into the storm, They are ten caravels —Where are you going ships of Hunger, —Where are you going? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Without direction or vision guiding it, [Mindelo, 1943] |
A Billie Holiday, cantoraNoémia de Sousa (1926–2002) Era de noite e no quarto aprisionado em escuridão E então, E começava assim a canção: Tua voz irmã, no seu trágico sentimentalismo, | To Billie Holiday, SingerNoémia de Sousa (1926–2002) It was at night and in the room imprisoned in darkness And then, And the song began this way: Your voice, sister, in its tragic sentimentalism, |
A emigraçãoA propósito da emigração para S. Tomé e Príncipe Como é triste e é desolador, Se a sorte ainda a traz à terra amiga, Mas porque ides, assim arrebanhada, Aproveitai melhor a mocidade | EmigrationIn regards to the emigration to São Tomé and Príncipe How sad it is and how disheartening, If fortune takes you to a friendly land, So why is it, like penned-up sheep, you go Make better use of your virility |
1619Francisco José Tenreiro (1921–1963) Da terra negra à terra vermelha Por noites e dias para ti tão longos Ejá os teus olhos estavam cegos de negrume | 1619Francisco José Tenreiro (1921–1963) From the black land to the red land By night and by day which for you were so long Already your eyes were blinded by the darkness |
Mãe Humanidade & do MundoKardo Bestilo (1976–) Oh! Mulher! És quem vejo quando penso Na minha Mãe—Mulher, Mulher é tudo e está em tudo! Sem mulher não há vida, Mesmo assim as fazemos sofrer, Oh! Mulher, és a razão da nossa existência e gira o mundo! Mesmo assim Micróbios Muscalados conseguem abusar-te . . . És um ser sem igual, no entanto | Mother of Mankind & of the WorldKardo Bestilo (1976–) Oh! Woman! It’s you I see when I think of My Mother—Woman, Woman is everything and is within everything! Without woman there is no life, Nevertheless we make them suffer, Oh! Woman, you are the reason for our existence and the world turns! Nevertheless Muscle-bound Microbes succeed in abusing you . . . You are an incomparable being, nevertheless |
Notes
1. Russell G. Hamilton, “Lusophone Literature in Africa: Lusofonia, Africa, and Matters of Languages and Letters,” Callaloo 14, no. 2 (Spring 1991): 324–35, doi.org/10.2307/2931627.
2. University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries Research Guides, s.v. “Lusophone,” researchguides.library.wisc.edu/lusophone; see also Simon J. Keay “Lusitania,” Oxford Classical Dictionary, eds. Simon Hornblower, Anthony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012).
3. Reprinted by permission of Frederick G. Williams.