[the blind poet]



Glauco Mattoso's poetry may be chronologically and formally divided into
two distinct phases: the first may be called the VISUAL PHASE,
characterized by the poet's experimental parodies of various
contemporary tendencies, from Brazilian modernism to "underground"
motifs, influenced primarily by Concretism, which esteemed the
graphic/visual character of the poem. The author's second phase may be
termed the BLIND(NESS) PHASE, as his complete visual impairment leads
him to abandon processes such as dactylographic concretism, and he
begins to compose classical sonnets, where rigor in metric, rhyme, and
rhythm functions as a mnemonic device allowing the poet to perform a
re-working of old Glauquian themes (ugliness, dirtiness, wickedness,
vices, trauma, stigma), reappropriating concretist techniques
(paronomasia, alliteration, euphony and cacophony of verbal
configurations), while incorporating slang and colloquialism, elements
which have always been hallmarks of the hybrid style of the author. The
VISUAL PHASE runs from the 1970s to the end of the 1980s, while the
BLIND(NESS) PHASE begins in 1999, with the publication of his first
books of sonnets. [1]


In 2000, Glauco Mattoso sent his work to Chris Daniels, an American
translator who was collaborating with the famous poet Michael Palmer in
a historical anthology of Brazilian poetry. In return, Daniels wrote:

[As I said, I'm utterly stunned by your trilogy of sonnets, which, in
spite of being produced in such a short time, seems to me to be equal in
intelligence, humor, rage and POETRY to the TESTAMENTS of Villon, the
"cantigas d'escárnio," the best of Kenneth Patchen, Bataille, and my
great hero Rabelais, not to mention Boca do Inferno and Bocage (I've
read but little of those two great poets, but I've read enough to know
what they did, who they were) – and Sade, yes, of course.]


According to Steven Butterman,

[In significant ways, Glauco Mattoso is a direct inheritor of the
lineage of satirical sonnets composed by Gregório de Mattos. Indeed, one
cannot help but wonder if the similarities in initials and orthography
of the last name (including the archaic double consonant "tt") may be
linked, to some extent, to the construction of the pseudonym, "Glauco
Mattoso." Indeed, if "Mattos" is the original phenomenon and is regarded
gramatically as a pronoun, then perhaps "Mattoso" is the corresponding
adjective that may serve to identify the nature or type of the work that
Mattoso is appropriating and re-working. In fact, using the terminology
of grammar, it is indeed true that the adjective "mattoso" as a semantic
unit functions to MODIFY – one may say both grammatically and
thematically – a noun form of "Mattos." Whether or not this
paronomastic link is coincidental, there is an undeniable thematic and
structural similarity when comparing Gregório de Mattos' sonnets to
those of Glauco Mattoso. The postmodern incarnation of the "Boca do
Inferno" is a well-deserved title for the simultaneously cynical,
critical, and humorous verses which predominate in Glauco Mattoso's
works.] [2]

[...]

[Future studies of Glauco Mattoso's most recent work may explore the
"punk" music scene as a venue for transgressive expression as well as
the final two books of his trilogy of sonnets initiated by the 1999
CENTOPÉIA: SONETOS NOJENTOS & QUEJANDOS and finished in the final months
of the same year: PAULISSÉIA ILHADA: SONETOS TÓPICOS, a compilation of
114 sonnets which primarily develops themes of postmodern urbanity and
"paulistano" multi-cultural identities; and GELÉIA DE ROCOCÓ: SONETOS
BARROCOS, which contains 111 sonnets devoted to examining human
caricatures and behaviors, both fictional and real, including a rare
facet of Mattoso's work – a tribute to the women who have most
profoundly influenced the poet's life in a personal sense as well as
from the stage, including, among many others, the actress Fernanda
Montenegro and the writer / lesbian activist Leila Míccolis, whose
contributions were discussed in chapter three.] [3]


Click below for excerpts from Butterman's thesis about the
"masocriticism" of Glauco Mattoso's poetry in CENTOPÉIA: SONETOS
NOJENTOS & QUEJANDOS and other works, focusing on fundamental tenets of
Mattoso's "revisionist eroticism" and "mega-transgressive" or
"meta-transgressive" corpus:

[INFORMATIVE SADOMASOCHISM AND FETISHISM]

[AESTHETICS OF PERVERSITY]

[PERFORMATIVE SADOMASOCHISM AND FETISHISM]

[SELECTED SONNETS]



[NOTES]

[1] Click [SELECTED SONNETS] and see "Soneto ensaístico."

[2] Click [SELECTED SONNETS] and see "Soneto glaucomatoso." Click
[PERFORMATIVE SADOMASOCHISM AND FETISHISM] and see "Segundo soneto
masoquista." Click also [A CONCRETE VISUAL PSEUDONYM] and see "Soneto
glauquiano," note # 4.

[3] See [SOURCES]. For Butterman's introduction and contents, see
[A TRANSGRESSOR AS CASE STUDY].

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