Death of Ferreira Gullar

I have received with great sorrow the news of the death of Ferreira Gullar, great poet, essayist, art critic, translator and dear friend.

Gullar leaves a remarkable contribution to the Brazilian culture and, in particular, to our language and literature. A pioneer since the 1950s, he renewed, for over half a century, the poetry of the country with a brilliant and innovative body of work that won him the admiration of so many readers and numerous awards – including the Camões Prize, the most important of the Portuguese language.

He was a man of great integrity, able to fight the good fight of ideas moved by his love for Brazil and by his view of a democratic and socially fairer country.

At this moment of grief, in which Brazil suffers so heartfelt losses, I express my deepest condolences to the family of Ferreira Gullar and bid farewell to my great friend with his words:

Corpo meu corpo corpo
que tem um nariz assim uma boca
dois olhos
e um certo jeito de sorrir
de falar
que minha mãe identifica como sendo de seu filho
que meu filho identifica
como sendo de seu pai

corpo que se pára de funcionar provoca
um grave acontecimento na família:
sem ele não há José Ribamar Ferreira
não há Ferreira Gullar
e muitas pequenas coisas acontecidas no planeta
estarão esquecidas para sempre

José Serra
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Body my body body
that has a nose like this a mouth
two eyes
and a certain way of smiling
of speaking
that my mother identifies as being her son´s
that my son identifies
as being his father´s

A body that if stops working causes
a serious event in the family:
without it there is no José Ribamar Ferreira
there is no Ferreira Gullar
and many of the small things that happened in the planet
will be forgotten forever.