Al Berto

Al Berto , actually Alberto Raposo Pidwell Tavares (born January 11, 1948 in Coimbra , Portugal , † June 13, 1997 in Lisbon , Portugal) was a Portuguese poet. He was a representative of surrealism and is considered one of the great voices of the poetry of the 1980s as well as of homosexual erotic poetry in Portugal.

Live and act

Al Berto came from a middle class family, some of which can even have British roots. He spent his childhood and youth in Sines . He later went to Lisbon , where he studied painting at the Escola Antonio Arroio and the Escola de Sociedade de Belas Artes. He continued his studies in exile in Brussels , where he worked from 1967 and lived until 1975. Further stations of his work had been Paris and Barcelona . In 1971 he swore by painting and began to deal intensively with writing literature.

His first book was published in 1977. This was followed by numerous other books, especially volumes of poetry and a novel. In 1988 he received the Premio do Clube Pen. His work has been translated into various languages, including German, where three of the poet's books are currently available.

Al Berto died on June 13, 1997 at the age of 49 from complications from lymph node cancer .

In 2017 the film Al Berto by the Portuguese director Vicente Alves do Ó was released , which shows the phase of his life shortly after the Carnation Revolution .

Poetry and work

His work focuses on people in all their facets with almost anthropological accuracy. Like Walt Whitman , he roams the city to capture the people and crowds he meets. Everything is permeated by a neo-surrealism, of which he was the most important follower in Portugal together with Alexandre O'Neill . Many poems are characterized by a subliminal homosexuality that draws on the author's autobiographical experiences.

Works (selection)

• Trabalhos do Olhar, 1982, poetry.
• Salsugem, 1984, poetry.
• O medo / Trabalho poetico, (1976-1986), poetry.
• Lunário, 1988, novel.
• O livro das regressos, 1989, poetry.
• A secreta vida das imagens, 1991, poetry.
• Luminoso Afogada, 1995, poetry.
• Horto de Incêndio, 1997, poetry.

In German translation

• Horto de Incêndio - Garden of Flames. Poems. With an afterword by José Riço Direitinho . Translated from the Portuguese by Luísa Costa Hölzl and Michael von Killisch-Horn, Heidelberg: Elfenbein Verlag , 1998.
• Moon change. Novel. Translated from the Portuguese by Sven Limbeck. Heidelberg: Elfenbein Verlag , 1999.
• Salsugem - salt. Poems. Portuguese - German. Translated and with an afterword by Sven Limbeck. Berlin: Elfenbein Verlag , 2003.

swell

• www. escritas.org/pt/biografia/al-berto
• www.nescritas.com/poetasapaxionadas/listapoesiadeamor2/1946
• www.infopedia.pt/$al-berto;Jsessionid=4zy46PKHVKV6Krx
• www.antoniomiranda.com.br/iberoamerica/portugal/al_berto

Web links

• Literature by and about Al Berto in the catalog of the German National Library