Travelling in the Family: Selected Poems

by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Andrade, Carlos Drummond De, De Andrade, Carlos Drummond, Colchie, Thomas, Strand, Mark

Genres: Poetry

134 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 1986

About the author

Carlos Drummond de Andrade foi um poeta, contista e cronista brasileiro. Formou-se em Farmácia, em 1925; no mesmo ano, fundava, com Emílio Moura e outros escritores mineiros, o periódico modernista "A Revista". Em 1934 mudou-se para o Rio de Janeiro, onde assumiu o cargo de chefe de gabinete de Gustavo Capanema, Ministro da Educação e Saúde, que ocuparia até 1945. Durante esse período, colaborou, como jornalista literário, para vários periódicos, principalmente o Correio da Manhã. Nos anos de 1950, passaria a dedicar-se cada vez mais integralmente à produção literária, publicando poesia, contos, crônicas, literatura infantil e traduções. Entre suas principais obras poéticas estão os livros Alguma Poesia (1930), Sentimento do Mundo (1940), A Rosa do Povo (1945), Claro Enigma (1951), Poemas (1959), Lição de Coisas (1962), Boitempo (1968), Corpo (1984), além dos póstumos Poesia Errante (1988), Poesia e Prosa (1992) e Farewell (1996). Drummond produziu uma das obras mais significativas da poesia brasileira do século XX. Forte criador de imagens, sua obra tematiza a vida e os acontecimentos do mundo a partir dos problemas pessoais, em versos que ora focalizam o indivíduo, a terra natal, a família e os amigos, ora os embates sociais, o questionamento da existência, e a própria poesia.

Reviews

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a bunch of his poems for a class, not specifically this collection. Amazing. Check out the poem on Charlie Chaplin.

[Keith Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had the earlier, 1986, Random House incarnation of this, but I'm pretty sure it is the same book.

Drummond is wonderful on a slightly slanted look at the ordinary. The famous Dickinson quote -- "tell the truth but tell it slant" -- of the quote about Cavafy -- "a man in a straw hat standing at a slight angle to the world" -- seem to apply to Drummond. The poems are direct and, except for the later ones, unadorned. They create lives, possibly some version of the poet's, often told in the smallest most self-deprecating of voices. And they feel very modern, even as they seem to have the feel of particular Brazilian places at a particular time.

I know almost nothing of Brazilian literature (except Amado) and little of Portuguese poetry (except Pessoa), so I really can't put this into a fair context. I came to these poems first through the translations of Elizabeth Bishop in her anthology of Brazilian poetry. Those translations are included here. Then I have a little book of Mark Strand translations that I picked up 40 years ago, and those translations are also here. Here's a sense of the tone of these, from a well known poem, "The Elephant," which is kind of a gentle surrealist poem that becomes something else because of language like this

Here's my poor elephant
read to leave
to find friends
in a tired world
that no longer believes
in animals and doesn't
trust in things.

Apparently Drummond is so well known and well respected by Brazilians that quotes from his poems appear on money! That must be a very odd situation. Comparisons with Neruda are obvious, and Thomas Colchie makes them in his good introduction, even as he points out the differences between Neruda's choice of an epic voice, and Drummond's quieter focus on family, house and town.

[henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good, but honestly something hit a little off the mark. a straightforward delivery of weird ideas and poems that sometimes works and sometimes feels disingenuous. one i'll probably come back to (years) later to see what i'm missing, cuz at the moment i really don't quite get it.

[Stacy McCullough. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the earlier work, when he had shorter to medium length lines and didn't seem to be focusing as much on the lyrical quality. The repetition and unique voice work well together and make me love him.

[Stephane St Onge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Drummond de Andrade because he connect us with the roots of Brazilian culture. Travelling in the Family is an explorations of the origins of human emotions and archetypes from a Latin American middle class perspective.

[Matthew Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book about 20 yrs ago at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ, and have been carrying it around ever since. That's about best review I could give any book... :)

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

a nice collection, portuguese not included. a few standout poems.