Imitate and Emulate in Order to Surpass: Haroldo de Campos and Hispanic American Poetry

Abstract

This article aims to consider Haroldo de Campos’ poetry and translation from the perspective of a transnational and Americanist project undertaken by the author. Thus, the initial belief in World Literature will be presented, and then demonstrate how the author problematized this initial idea, embarking on a project of dialogue with the literature of other Latin American countries. Thus, the role of Hispanic American literature in Haroldo’s work will be discussed. It will be verified how the Baroque and Neo-Baroque played a fundamental role in a poetic-critical turn in the last decades of the 20th century that the author experienced, based on approaches with authors such as Luis de Góngora, José Lezama Lima and Severo Sarduy, who help Haroldo, based on the idea of transculturation, to conceive his transcreation. Finally, it will be discussed how the idea of imitatio is productive for understanding Haroldo de Campos’ translation project, serving as a basis for the author not only to recover several Hispanic authors but also to rethink and recreate his poetry.