Poet
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Gonçalo M. Tavares 1970-... country: Portugal language: Portuguese |
Gonçalo M.Tavares (1970) teaches epistemology (the theory of knowledge) at the University of Lisbon. His first collection of poems, Livro da Dança, (‘Book of the Dance’) has recently appeared, and two more collections and a play are expected to be published this year. Tavares sees poetry as a kind of research, of gathering knowledge through the use of language. He rejects the idea that poetry and logic do not mix. On the contrary, poetry to him is a kind of individual science, able to deal with any subject and to use any sort of language. There are no ‘poetic’ words, he says, nor are there any ‘unpoetic’ ones, even in everyday or vulgar speech. ‘Sensitiveness ruins not only lives,’ he says, ‘but quite a few poems as well.’ Tavares’s poetry works by a sometimes surrealistic interplay of contrasts and unexpected, often ironic turns of phrase. Author: August Willemsen Translated by Ko Kooman Gonçalo M. Tavares (Portugal, 1970) made his début earlier this year with Livro da Dança, a collection of accessible, anecdotal poems. The concise wording and laconic tone of his poetry are the fruits of a marked aversion from traditional poetic verbiage. Poets: |
