MITISTÓRIA DE YIÓRGOS SEFÉRIS: INTRODUÇÃO, TRADUÇÃO E COMENTÁRIO

Abstract

Μυθιστόρημα/ Mythistórima (1935), translated here in Portuguese as Mitistoria, is perhaps the most influential collection of poems of the 20th century in Greece. Its text reveals a sophisticated tapestry that warps between the planes of Greek mythology (touching above all on themes of pilgrimage, return and reconciliation with the past) and the historical transformations that Greece went through during the poet's lifetime, with special emphasis on the destruction of Smyrna by the Turks in 1922, followed by the forced exchange of populations in 1923 and the consequent end of Hellenism in Asia Minor. The first direct translation from Greek into Brazilian Portuguese was by José Paulo Paes (1926-1998) in 1995. Almost 30 years later, in this article I present an introduction to a re-translation of the poem, preceded by an introduction to the life and work of Seferis, which incorporates his very important original notes to the poem, absent from Paes' translation, as well as new explanatory notes of my own. The main aim of this translation is to provide contemporary readers with a contextualised and a short introduction to the poetry of this exponent of Greek literature, placing it within the frame of the reception of the classics in Greece and Brazil and his dialogue with other contemporary poets and artists.