São Paulo – He was first born in Kassabin village, in northern Syria. It was 1930. He was then born when he moved to Beirut and started revolutionising Arab poetry. It was 1956. Some years later, in the 1980s, he was born again, when he moved to Paris, where he started living “world over”. That is how Sytian poet Adonis speaks about himself. Last Monday (9) he participated in an event to release his book, “Poemas” (Poems), at Livraria Cultura, on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo. The poems were translated by Michel Sleiman, a poet who was responsible for the choice of the content.
In front of a crowded auditorium, Adonis spoke about his births where he was asked about the importance Paris, the city in which he lives, and exile had on his life and work. "I was born three times,” he said. The first was in the poor and isolated village, explained Adonis. Regarding the second, on his move to Lebanon, Adonis explained that that was where he started working with poet friends and established literary magazines Chiir and later Mawáqif. Both brought modernity to Arab poetry, previously much connected to religion. "I felt a newly beginning existence in Beirut,” he said.
But it was with his birth in Paris, where he became an exile due to the civil war in Lebanon, that he truly started feeling like what he is currently called: a poet of the world. "In Paris I felt I lived all over the world, that the world is also part of me. I am living my third birth in Paris, I understand relations with others better, and also what the world is,” he said. Adonis has poetry as reference to his homeland and to Lebanon, several being connected to social and political events, but he writes seeking references in the unwinding of life, also inspired on other regions.
Adonis made it clear that he came to these conclusions, about his three births, due to the mystical knowledge he has. "I was fortunate, at an early age, to read about Arab mysticism,” he said. According to him, we learn that identity is something pre-fabricated, inherited and imposed, but mystics refuse this notion and believe that identity is a creation. “Human beings create their identity with their work, as if it came from the future, and not the past. The other is not anonymous; he is a dimension that is part of the me. When I travel towards myself, I have to go by the other,” said the poet, also referring to the experience of living and writing in France.
The poet criticised the little importance that poetry has in the Arab world and also said that he is concerned with the route that his land is following. “Although I defended the Arab Spring in the beginning, I am now scared and concerned,” he said. According to him, those who initially awakened, youths and women, have been marginalised. “The creators of the Arab Spring have been marginalised in Tunisia, Egypt, who knows whether they will be in Yemen, and let’s see what will happen in Libya. I think that the situation is a little different there. Let’s wait and not judge, as the process that is in course is not clear,” said Adonis.
The poet said that for half a century there were no changes in the Arab world as the changes were only in regimes. According to him, there is no revolution if citizenship is not established in the region and women are not freed from religious laws, being granted all of their rights. “The separation of religion from social, cultural and political aspects. Without this separation, revolutions do not make sense,” he said. "We have done nothing in recent years but change regimes, so nothing has changed in the societies,” said Adonis, applauded by the audience.
Adonis recited his poems in Arabic, and they were then repeated in Portuguese by Sleiman, but he spoke little about Brazil. He spoke, in truth, about the Portuguese language, which he knows nothing of. “I do not know how to speak Portuguese, but I think it is very beautiful to hear,” he said. He, however, pointed out his love for Arabic. “Arabic is the language of the skin, of nature, of things…” he said, adding that to read poetry in Arabic you cannot use just your head, but you must use your whole body. “It is a great language, and I still prefer Arabic,” he said, making the audience laugh.
Adonis praised the work of the translator of his book, Sleiman. “He understands my poetic process better than I do,” he said. The Brazilian took six to seven months to conclude translation of the poems. Sleiman explained that he appealed to the Syrian poet just once, when he sent a letter with doubts, immediately answered. Adonis stated that translation of poetry is a creation and he therefore does not interfere in the process, leaving the translator free to do his work. As Adonis himself is a translator, he said that when he is translating from Arabic to French, he learns more about Arabic. “I therefore translate myself when translating,” he said, making poetry.
The Syrian writes his poems in Arabic. He recited some of them to his audience: “Time”, “Love”, “Mirror of Sleep”, “Mirror of the 20th Century”, which are published in the book in Brazil. “Poemas” was published by Companhia das Letras and has forewords by the Amazonas state-born novelist Milton Hatoum, who is of Arab descent. Adonis’ conversation with the public was promoted by the Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe) alongside Companhia das Letras and Livraria Cultura. The poet also participated in the Paraty International Literary Festival (Flip), which also counted on the Icarabe’s collaboration.
Service
Poemas
Author: Adonis
Pages: 256
Publishing House: Companhia das Letras
Price: R$ 42 (US$ 21)
*Translated by Mark Ament
