Claudio Jorge Willer (2 December 1940 – 13 January 2023) was a Brazilian poet, translator, essayist and critic.

Life and career

Of German Jewish descent, Willer graduated in psychology, from

University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best ...

(USP) (1966), and in Social and Political Sciences, from Fundação Escola de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo (1963), and received his PhD in literature, from USP, in the area of Comparative Studies of Portuguese Language Literatures, with the thesis ''Um Obscuro Encanto: Gnose, Gnosticismo e a Poesia Moderna'', approved with distinction on 28 March 2008. He completed post-doctoral studies in 2011, also in literature at USP, with essays on the theme "Strange Religions, Mysticism and Poetry". His poetic output stands out for its connection with

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

and the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generat ...

. Willer also worked as a translator, translating works by Lautréamont,

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Genera ...

and

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian anc ...

to Portuguese. Along with Sergio Lima and

Roberto Piva Roberto Piva (September 25, 1937, São Paulo – July 3, 2010, São Paulo) was a Brazilian poet and writer. He died from complications from Parkinson's disease. Bibliography Booklet * ''Ode a Fernando Pessoa'', 1961 Individual works * ''Pa ...

, he was one of the few Brazilian poets mentioned in a review on surrealism in São Paulo, published in February 1965 by the French periodical ''La Bréche - Action Surréaliste'', directed by

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

. As a critic and essayist, he wrote for several Brazilian newspapers: Jornal da Tarde,

Jornal do Brasil ''Jornal do Brasil'', widely known as ''JB'', is a daily newspaper published by Editora JB in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The paper was founded in 1891 and is the third oldest extant Brazilian paper, after the '' Diário de Pernambuco'' and ''O Est ...

(section Ideias), Folha de S. Paulo,

O Estado de S. Paulo ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to berliner on October 17, 2021. It has th ...

Correio Braziliense The ''Correio Braziliense'' (meaning ''Brazilian Mail'' in English) is a daily newspaper in Brazil. The paper was first published on 21 April 1960. Its founder is Assis Chateaubriand. The paper has its headquarters in Brasília. The name came f ...

, Isto É and Cult magazines, and for alternative and independent press publications: Versus newspaper, Singular and Plural magazine, O Escritor da UBE newspaper, Linguagem Viva, Muito Mais, Página Central, Reserva Cultural (cinema), and others. Willer died from bladder cancer in São Paulo, on 13 January 2023, at the age of 82.

Selected works

Poetry

* ''Anotações para um apocalipse''. São Paulo: Massao Ohno Editor, 1964. * ''Dias circulares''. São Paulo: Massao Ohno Editor, 1976. * ''Jardins da Provocação''. São Paulo: Massao Ohno/Roswitha Kempf Editores, 1981. * ''Estranhas Experiências'', Rio de Janeiro: Lamparina, 2004. * ''Poemas para leer en voz alta'', poesia, translated by Eva Schnell, postfaceby Floriano Martins, Editorial Andrómeda, San José, Costa Rica, 2007. * ''A verdadeira história do século XX'', poesia, Lisboa, Portugal: Apenas Livros – Cadernos Surrealistas Sempre, 2015; Brazilian edition: São Paulo, Córrego, 2016. * ''Extrañas experiencias, poesia 1964-2004, Claudio Willer'', Nulu Bonsai Editora, Buenos Aires, 2018; translated by Thiago Souza Pimentel, photography by Irupê Tenório, prologue and review by Reynaldo Jiménez. With support from the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations Argentine edition of ''Estranhas experiências''.

Prose and essay

* ''Dias ácidos, noites lisérgicas,'' crônicas, São Paulo: Córrego, 2019. * "Os rebeldes: Geração Beat e anarquismo místico, ensaio", Porto Alegre: L&PM, 2014. * "Manifestos 1964-2010", Rio de Janeiro: Azougue editorial, 2013. * ''Volta,'' narrativa em prosa, São Paulo: Iluminuras, 1996 (3ª edição: 2004). * ''Geração Beat''. Porto Alegre: L&PM Pocket (coleção Encyclopaedia), 2009. * ''Um obscuro encanto: gnose, gnosticismo e a poesia moderna''. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2010.

References

External links

Blog pessoal

. ''Espéculo. Revista de estudios literarios.''

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

.
Claudio Willer no ''Jornal de Poesia''

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

, por Claudio Willer. Revista ''Agulha'', n°47, setembro de 2005.

. Entrevista concedida a Floriano Martins. ''Espéculo. Revista de estudios literarios.''

.
Coletânea de ensaios
no TriploV.
''Geração Beat'', de Claudio Willer, é destaque na imprensa brasileira
Site da editora L&PM, 11 de agosto de 2009.
Currículo Lattes: Claudio Jorge Willer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willer, Claudio 1940 births 2023 deaths Deaths from bladder cancer Deaths from cancer in São Paulo (state) Brazilian translators Brazilian Ashkenazi Jews Beat Generation Brazilian essayists Brazilian literary critics Brazilian people of German-Jewish descent Brazilian anarchists Writers from São Paulo Jewish anarchists