Apologetics and poetics: a translator’s reflections on Judith Teixeira’s use of her own poetry in the public lecture de mim

This article is structured around my translation of two of Judith Teixeira’s most iconic poems into English. When, in 1926, Teixeira published De Mim in defence of her work and aesthetics, she chose two of her own poems to exemplify and elucidate her poetics and her sexual politics. I begin by brief...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Gerry, Chris
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
Repository:Via Atlântica (Online)
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:revistas.usp.br:article/208813
Online Access:https://revistas.usp.br/viaatlantica/article/view/208813
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Judith Teixeira
literary apologia
Portuguese modernist poetry
literature of Sodom
apologias literárias
poesia modernista portuguesa
futurismo
literatura de Sodoma
Description
Summary:This article is structured around my translation of two of Judith Teixeira’s most iconic poems into English. When, in 1926, Teixeira published De Mim in defence of her work and aesthetics, she chose two of her own poems to exemplify and elucidate her poetics and her sexual politics. I begin by briefly contextualising De Mim, which was written in the style of a literary apologia but also intended to be given as a public lecture. The poems are then presented in bilingual format. Based upon the experience of translating these poems, I conclude by assessing how well they support Teixeira’s call for artists to be allowed to create, unencumbered by hypocritical bourgeois moralising.