São Paulo – Founded in 1810, shortly after the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil, the National Library of Brazil in downtown Rio de Janeiro is now home to one of the world’s ten largest library collections. This archive, which goes beyond the universe of books to include maps, newspapers, stamps, and many other collections, will be increasingly available on the Internet for both Brazilians and foreigners.
Sworn in as president of the National Library Foundation (FBN) last May but nominated in January, the poet, essayist, translator, and Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) member Marco Lucchesi (pictured above) aims to “carve deeper into the Brazilian psyche” the importance of the institution for Brazil and further extend its foothold beyond the country’s borders over the following years. “We have such a great wealth that belongs to planet Earth, and we need to make them available,” he said. This heritage is already at the service of the planet, as wishes Lucchesi, who presided over ABL from 2018 to 2021.
As per an agreement recently signed with the Brazilian Navy, the FBN will send the publications it has made on its own or in partnership with its counterparts from other countries through Brazilian vessels docking at international ports. The Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station is one of the ports served by this agreement. The renewal of an agreement with the National Library of Argentina, a new agreement with the National Library of Cuba in Havana, and partnerships with similar institutions in Africa are also underway for a series of activities.
Its relationship with Arab countries is not new. The FBN is home to a collection of newspapers and prints that Arab immigrants produced in Brazil. Part of this collection is already digitized. “They are written in classical and popular Arabic, which is very relevant. When they’re bilingual, they are a laboratory of their own translation for the way they claim the words. They [the Arabic newspapers] dialogue with other newspapers published in other languages in Brazil, which shows once more the diversity of our country,” he says. “What the immigrants bring, besides the dream of better living conditions, is the building of a utopia and the desire to realize this utopia. And the newspapers are proof of this,” said the FBN president.
An expert on Arab culture and an Arabic enthusiast, Lucchesi has visited Lebanon, where he went to Sabra and Shatila fields, which were the targets of an attack in 1982, an experience he recounts in his book Os olhos do deserto [The Eyes of the Desert]. He has also been to Egypt, where he met Nobel laureate in Literature Naghib Mahfouz – author of Arabian Nights and Days and the Cairo Trilogy – and Syrian poet Adonis. “Literature is the ultimate exercise of empathy; it’s the key that makes us understand the different,” he said, recalling that when he was still a child, he used to marvel at the traveling salesmen of Arab origin that he saw on the street.
FBN’s paths are intertwined with Arab countries and culture also through the Support Program for the Translation and Publication of Brazilian Authors Abroad. Among the authors translated to the nations of North Africa and the Middle East are contemporary writers such as Ana Maria Machado with Infâmia [Infamy] and classics such as Machado de Assis, with Dom Casmurro, both works released in Egypt. The Brothers, by Milton Hatoum, was translated and released in Lebanon.
“What was produced in the laboratory in Andalusia was later rethought by Arab intellectuals here in Brazil who considered this new Andalusia. With the renaissance of Arabic literature, which passes through São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian authors of Arab origin rose to fame in Brazil and abroad,” he said. “There is an imagery built in this new Andalusia that illustrated many important literary works of the 20th century for the Arab world, based on migration and the Arab presence, especially here in Brazil and Latin America. On the other hand, Brazil has a strength, a difference, which are the languages we have here, the diversity found in our territory, and the high quality of Brazilian literature, which has expanded fantastically in recent years,” he said.
Lucchesi said the National Library has goals and needs, such as becoming increasingly digital due to the number of internet accesses, about 100 million, and it needs more “arms” to carry out its tasks and more investments. Some of them have already arrived, with the contribution of BRL 22 million (about USD 4.38 million at the current rate) by the Ministry of Culture to expand the institution’s annex building.
“The National Library is among the ten most important libraries according to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) regarding internal quality and the wealth it houses. Therefore, the great task is to deepen the National Library’s vital space in the Brazilian imagination. It belongs to everyone, it is for everyone, it is open,” he said.
He said the plan is for the National Library to be “a mirror” for Brazilian society so that no one feels excluded when looking at it. As part of this initiative, they are expanding the memory of quilombos, indigenous languages and photos of villages. In August, the first translation of the Brazilian Constitution into an indigenous language, Nheengatu, an Amazonian language originating from Tupi, was deposited at the institution. The ceremony was attended by the then president of the Supreme Court, Rosa Weber, the first visit by a head of the Judiciary power to the institution in a hundred years.
“We believe the National Library has the task of carrying forward the diplomacy of books, a kind of geopolitics of peace, and show that Brazil can now participate in the global stage based on its great cultural values,” concluded Lucchesi.
Translation by Guilherme Miranda & Elúsio Brasileiro
