Circuladô de Fulô: The Petals of Russian Avant-Garde Poetry in Brazil

The aim of this paper is to present the trajectory of the translation and reception of Russian poetry in Brazil, from the point of view of the avant-garde, in three periods: in the context of early Modernism, Concrete Poetry and Tropicalism. Within the proposed scope, we present a critical exposition that starts with the first mention of Russian poets, such as Maiakóvski and Blok, in Mário de Andrade’s essay “A escrava que não era Isaura” and arrives at Caetano Veloso with the presence of a verse by Maiakóvski in the song “Circuladô de Fulô”, composed from Haroldo de Campos’ fragment in Galáxias. This path is based on the thesis that Russian avant-garde poetry took on an organic translation movement in Brazil, acquiring its own contours and, by being incorporated into music, fulfilling Oswald de Andrade’s anthropophagic modernist desire. Finally, contradictions inherent to the very organicity of translation and its relationship with the Brazilian cultural system are also raised.

Keywords:
Russian Poetry; poetry translation; Mayakovsky; Brazilian Modernism