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Galáxias
Begun in 1963 and only published in its final form in 1984, galáxias is a sui generis work. As Haroldo de Campos himself wrote: “An audiovideotext, a videotextgame, the galáxias situate themselves on the border between prose and poetry. In this kaleidoscopic book, there’s an epic, narrative gesture—mini-stories that come together and dissolve like the ‘suspense’ of a detective novel … but the image remains, the vision or calling of the epiphanic.” A series of 50 “galactic cantos”—in homage to both Dante and Pound—de Campos likewise follows James Joyce’s cue in conceiving of galáxias as a “defense and illustration” of the Portuguese language and its poetic possibilities. The text incorporates literary allusion, citation, and words and phrases in at least a dozen languages, making galáxias a formidable experiment in polyglot poetry. galáxias charts the literal and literary journeys de Campos undertook from the early 1950s on. Arguably his chief poetic accomplishment, galáxias is also a landmark in world avant-garde poetics.
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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353 people want to read
About the author
Haroldo de Campos
69 books29 followersHaroldo de Campos was a Brazilian poet, critic, and translator. He and his brother Augusto de Campos, together with Décio Pignatari, formed the poetic group Noigandres that published the experimental journal of the same name, which would launch the Brazilian movement of poesia concreta (concrete poetry).
He translated some of the most important literature of the Western tradition into Portuguese, such as Homer's Iliad, prose by James Joyce and poetry by Mallarmé. When he died he left unfinished a translation of Dante's Comedia, a manuscript that Umberto Eco had a chance to read, which compelled him to say that "Haroldo de Campos is the best Dante translator in the world".
He translated some of the most important literature of the Western tradition into Portuguese, such as Homer's Iliad, prose by James Joyce and poetry by Mallarmé. When he died he left unfinished a translation of Dante's Comedia, a manuscript that Umberto Eco had a chance to read, which compelled him to say that "Haroldo de Campos is the best Dante translator in the world".
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 13, 2026
Exigente y transformador, este “libro como viaje” es una forma extensiva e intensiva de aunar las diferencias de las lenguas para conjuntarlas y armonizarlas en un lenguaje que se busca como totalizador y conector de la infinita concatenación de significados fónicos o semánticos. Haroldo era un genio a quien le debemos una conversación entera en nuestra vida lectora.
i-want-money
April 23, 2016About this translation:
This page showcases a sample of the full translation into English of Haroldo de Campos's Galáxias authored by Odile Cisneros with Suzanne Jill Levine. The complete project encompassing 50 fragments (including three fragments previously translated by Suzanne Jill Levine after Jon Tolman's basic version; Norman Potter and Christopher Middleton; and Charles Perrone) will be available in book version in the near future. More details soon.
http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/galaxia...
This page showcases a sample of the full translation into English of Haroldo de Campos's Galáxias authored by Odile Cisneros with Suzanne Jill Levine. The complete project encompassing 50 fragments (including three fragments previously translated by Suzanne Jill Levine after Jon Tolman's basic version; Norman Potter and Christopher Middleton; and Charles Perrone) will be available in book version in the near future. More details soon.
http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/galaxia...
April 30, 2025
(This review is for the English translation of Galaxias, translated by Odile Cisneros and published by UDP in 2024.)
Every other morning for six weeks I sat and read this book. What a grand adventure it was, a galactic tour. The form is expansive but simple, 50 cantos of approximately the same length, written between 1963 and 1976, and published in 1984. It is a “travel book” of the highest potency and caliber, investigating the poem itself as a form of fearless exploration.
Haroldo de Campos was one of Brazil’s most important 20th century poets, famed for launching “concrete poetry” as a movement. Clearly the book is in some degree a response to the cantos Ezra Pound. It is an example of “macaronic” poetry -- a word I learned from reading it -- poetry that uses multiple languages. As the poems swoop from one country to the next, all the senses are enlisted, and easily a dozen languages as well.
My concern is -- this all sounds too imposing. Finnegan’s Wake this is not. Galaxias is great fun to read and I don’t think it’s right to call it difficult. One needn’t be a scholar, I am not, you only need to open your head as wide as you can! (Reading these poems was a grand way to begin the day, yoga for the brain.) The poems are gymnastically multilingual but words are either defined, glossed, or so musical that you won’t mind.
I discovered a new small joy as I read this book. I think it counts as evidence of grand success, for both poet and translator. (If there was a reward for ‘Sheer Daring In Translation’, this book would win. Odile Cisneros must be a genius -- she had to be to translate this book.) The book is full of neologisms, newly created words, and over and again I copied them down thinking, “I need this word! I’m adopting this word for life!”
Have you seen the world lately? Myriademented, isn’t it? How are your friends doing? I hope they are often polyboisterous. I loved finallyes and nymphotic. Some words will end up in the dictionary, if the world lasts long enough, like equivalegends. There are dozens of more examples in the text and they are so alive and useful and entertaining.
Subscribing to UDP is one of the luxuries I permit myself. Almost everything they publish is curious and interesting, but this one towers as the best of 2024’s offerings. I hope when people talk about how important Galaxias is, they don’t forget to mention that it’s gleeful, exhilarating, and fun.
Every other morning for six weeks I sat and read this book. What a grand adventure it was, a galactic tour. The form is expansive but simple, 50 cantos of approximately the same length, written between 1963 and 1976, and published in 1984. It is a “travel book” of the highest potency and caliber, investigating the poem itself as a form of fearless exploration.
Haroldo de Campos was one of Brazil’s most important 20th century poets, famed for launching “concrete poetry” as a movement. Clearly the book is in some degree a response to the cantos Ezra Pound. It is an example of “macaronic” poetry -- a word I learned from reading it -- poetry that uses multiple languages. As the poems swoop from one country to the next, all the senses are enlisted, and easily a dozen languages as well.
My concern is -- this all sounds too imposing. Finnegan’s Wake this is not. Galaxias is great fun to read and I don’t think it’s right to call it difficult. One needn’t be a scholar, I am not, you only need to open your head as wide as you can! (Reading these poems was a grand way to begin the day, yoga for the brain.) The poems are gymnastically multilingual but words are either defined, glossed, or so musical that you won’t mind.
I discovered a new small joy as I read this book. I think it counts as evidence of grand success, for both poet and translator. (If there was a reward for ‘Sheer Daring In Translation’, this book would win. Odile Cisneros must be a genius -- she had to be to translate this book.) The book is full of neologisms, newly created words, and over and again I copied them down thinking, “I need this word! I’m adopting this word for life!”
Have you seen the world lately? Myriademented, isn’t it? How are your friends doing? I hope they are often polyboisterous. I loved finallyes and nymphotic. Some words will end up in the dictionary, if the world lasts long enough, like equivalegends. There are dozens of more examples in the text and they are so alive and useful and entertaining.
Subscribing to UDP is one of the luxuries I permit myself. Almost everything they publish is curious and interesting, but this one towers as the best of 2024’s offerings. I hope when people talk about how important Galaxias is, they don’t forget to mention that it’s gleeful, exhilarating, and fun.
August 30, 2020
Es un libro muy especia donde la mezcla de idiomas juntamente con el gran léxico y sin signos de puntuación suponen mucho trabajo para el lector, pero por otra parte, una genial manera de unir cada poema en un viaje continuo y ofrecer un camino diferente al del canon de la poesía actual.
Un gran libro que recomiendo a todos.
Un gran libro que recomiendo a todos.
December 5, 2024
Wheeeeeee
Read
February 25, 2025read for my world lit class, crazy dawg
April 15, 2015
Cincuenta cantos galácticos para acabarcomenzar con la escritura. Haroldo de Campos, eres un genio, más de diez años trabajaste en ella. <3
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews