Jamil Almansur Haddad, a poet adrift

Abstract

The history of Jamil Almansur Haddad, a Brazilian doctor, poet, critic, essayist and translator, was marked by the difficulty of literary critics to understand and classify his poetry - whether in relation to the Brazilian literature, or in regard to his Arab influences. Son of Lebanese immigrants, Haddad was considered a controversial and polemical figure, but his poetry, and literary and political essays were published by the country’s leading publishers. Despite of that, he suffered a gradual disappearance from the history of Brazilian literature. The purpose of this communication is to outline the poet’s intellectual path, pointing out his transitions and contradictions with the Brazilian literary movements between 1930 and the 1980s.