A polyhedron of possibilities

Book revisits the dialogue between rigor and chance in the life and poetic work of Paulo Leminski

A polyhedron of possibilities

Book revisits the dialogue between rigor and chance in the life and poetic work of Paulo Leminski

The book " Aço em Flor: A poesia de Paulo Leminski" (Steel in Bloom: The Poetry of Paulo Leminski) is an in-depth study of the multiple facets of the poet from Curitiba, a study in which Fabrício Marques identifies a dialogue between rigor and chance. Published by Editora da Unicamp in co-edition with Editora UFMG, the book was first released in 2001 and, revised and expanded, in 2024.

Marques graduated in communication from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) and holds a master's degree in literary theory and a doctorate in comparative literature from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). As a journalist and literary critic, he collaborated with important periodicals such as Folha de S.Paulo . He also worked as a professor and was among the finalists for the Jabuti Prize and the Portugal Telecom Prize with his book of poems A fera incompletude.

In the work *Aço em Flor* (Steel in Bloom) , the author seeks to map the meanings and references mobilized by Leminski in the construction of his poetry. Thus, Tropicalism, Japanese haiku, advertising, Concretism, and semiotics come into play. From the confluence and dialogue between these different worldviews emerges Leminski's poetics, in an eternal dispute between reason and intuition. In the following interview, Marques discusses the new edition of the work and provides details about this process.

Jornal da Unicamp – How did the process of revising the work for this new edition come about?

Fabrício Marques – It was a pleasurable process, motivated by the anniversary of the poet's 80th birthday, which was on August 24th. The first edition came out in 2001. In the 23 years leading up to this re-edition, I confess I left Leminski somewhat "aside," because, in addition to being a researcher, I am a journalist and professor, and other demands and topics arose along the way. But everything we read that matters leaves a lasting mark on us. When I reread the book to prepare the new edition, I naturally came into contact again with Leminski's poems and other texts, and once more I found myself facing a multifaceted, stimulating body of work, always under construction. To top it off, the fact that it is a co-edition of the Unicamp Press and the UFMG Press is something that made me very happy, as I greatly admire both publishers.

JU – What’s new for the reader?

Fabrício Marques – The new edition has been revised, with a rewriting process that maintained the original structure but added passages that reinforced it. For example, in attempting to define the concept of "chance," I included a section on serendipity, something absent from the first edition. In addition, an unpublished text, "The Radical Adventure of Paulo Leminski," written especially for this re-edition, has been added. Two texts I published over the last few years have also been included in the book: "Convergences with Advertising," which is in the book * The Line That Never Ends: Thinking Paulo Leminski * (edited by André Dick and Fabiano Calixto, Lamparina, 2005), and "Reading, Unreading, Counterreading: Convergences with Augusto de Campos," from 2011. Finally, there is an appendix presenting an interview I conducted with the Argentinian essayist Mario Cámara, the poet's translator, and a chronology of Leminski's life and work. In other words, there are many new features, making this reissue almost like a new book.

JU – How important is this publication for Paulo Leminski’s critical fortune?

Fabrício Marques – The other day I was talking to a friend, Guilhermino Domiciano, who studied theater at Unicamp, and we analyzed how we are increasingly interested in understanding what it means to be Brazilian. How the classic works of Joaquim Nabuco, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, and Raymundo Faoro, among many others, help us understand the country, in its network of extremes, between inequalities and privileges. But poetry also helps us in this search for understanding. What is it to be Brazilian? Is Brazilian poetry different from the country in which it is produced? And Leminski's poetry – a productive, restless, multifaceted volcano – can help answer this question. In the subtext of *Aço em Flor* , I try to bring this to the surface, by making explicit the wide range of the author's interests reflected in a multifaceted facet, his political-existential vision of poetry, his way of articulating the interplay between chance and rigor – in the context of a production that took place, for the most part, during the Brazilian military dictatorship.

JU – How do you see the reception of Leminski’s work today? Is he still a poet of reference for new generations?

Fabrício Marques – Maria Esther Maciel, who wrote the preface to Aço em Flor , highlighted in another text that Leminski, “among the poets of his generation, was perhaps the most attuned to the demands of a new cultural landscape, choosing as his privileged raw material a present – ​​understood as a mobile point of temporal confluences, a kind of synchronic present.” This fact, added to the poet's personal project of creating in the space between communication and information, that is, of experimenting with a mix between poetry of production – a rupture with tradition, inventive avant-garde – and poetry of consumption – pop appeal –, helps to understand Leminski's connection with new generations. Expressing himself from a place, this synchronic present, and handling verses among “rare and worthless” references, in the poet's words, his poetry has spoken directly to the hearts and minds of readers.

Title: Steel in Bloom
Author: Fabricio Marques
New edition, revised and expanded
Vintage: 2024
Pages: 200
Dimensions: 14 cm x 21 cm