What now, João?

Dialogues between José Cardoso Pires and João Cabral de Melo Neto

Abstract

Between the 1940s and 1960s, Brazilian literature left a profound mark in Portugal, shaping generations of writers who found in it an example of a new sensibility expressed in the same language. Among those who transcended national borders and crossed the Atlantic, the poet João Cabral de Melo Neto stood out not only for the warm reception of his work but also for the lasting impact he had on Portuguese authors of diverse aesthetic orientations. His unmistakable style—rigorous, precise, and as sharp as A Knife All Blade, to recall one of his emblematic titles—became a "lesson in poetry" and had a significant impact on a significant number of writers, including José Cardoso Pires, whose work reveals a debt to certain aspects of Cabral’s influence, as reiterated in scattered testimonies. From a documentary perspective, particularly through the analysis of correspondence and bibliographic records, this essay seeks to reconstruct this unforeseen dialogue, examining the explicit or subtle dynamics that shaped the convergences and divergences between two great figures of Brazilian and Portuguese literature and, more broadly, of Portuguese-language literature.