Leons Briedis - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Leons Briedis in a family of country teachers. He is a Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, a novelist, an essayist, a literary critic and publisher, translator of prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

and poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Romance languages

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

(Romanian

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

, Italia, Catalan

Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

, Rhaeto-Romanic), Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

(of Bantu peoples), Albanian

Albanian language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

a. o. languages. He is also an author of several musicals produced on the radio and staged at the biggest theatres in Latvia, script writer (author of several scripts, one short-length film is produced), has written much for children (poems, prose, plays), author of song texts (in collaboration with the componist Raimonds Pauls

Raimonds Pauls

Raimonds Pauls is a Latvian and Soviet composer and piano player who is well-known and respected in Latvia and the former Soviet Union.-Music:...

texts for appr. 150 songs), has translated 10 plays staged at Latvian theatres and rendered in verse opera librettos (e.g., the opera by B. Britten "The Small Chimney-Sweep").

Early life

After graduating the Sigulda Secondary School in 1968 he entered the Latvian State University, Day Department of the Latvian Language

Latvian language

Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...

and Literature Faculty from which he was expelled in 1970 because of anti-Soviet activity without any right to acquire higher education within the territory of the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. Despite it in 1972 Leons Briedis entered the Day Department of Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Chişinău in the Moldavian Republic which in 1974 he was forced to leave due to his links with Moldavian and Romanian democratically-minded intelligentsia. From 1977 to 1979 he studied at the Higher Literary Courses of Maxim Gorky Literature Institute

Maxim Gorky Literature Institute

The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute is a higher education institute in Moscow. It is located at 25 Tver Bulvar in Central Moscow.It was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, and received its current name at Gorky's death in 1936....

in Moscow the theory of translation and Africanistics. L. Briedis for a long time has experienced the pressure of the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party and the VDK (KGB

KGB

The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

) of Latvian SSR

Latvian SSR

The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Latvian SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the Soviet Union. Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied by...

which was manifest as prohibition to publish his works for a certain period, to travel abroad or to take up an employment of ideological character (namely, in publishing houses, schools, editorial offices etc.).

Family

Leons Briedis is married to Maria Briede-Macovei, whom he met in Chişinău

Chisinau

Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...

, Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

. They have two sons.

Later life

Leons Briedis has published about 34 books of his own (poetry, prose, essays) as well as 49 books of translations. His poetry books are published in Russian

Russian language

, Romanian

Romanian language

and Ukrainian

Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....

languages, but in general his poetry is translated in practically all languages of Europe and nations of the former Soviet Union as well as many Asian languages (Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

, Hebrew, Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

, Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, Kirghiz

Kyrgyz language

Kyrgyz or Kirgiz, also Kirghiz, Kyrghiz, Qyrghiz is a Turkic language and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan...

, Uzbek

Uzbek language

Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...

).

From 1974 Briedis is a member of the Latvian Writers' Union (several times also a member of the Board), and from 1987 he is member of the international organisation of writers (poets, essayists, prosaists) — PEN Club. From 1993 to 1997 he was Vice-President of the Latvian PEN Club.
He has worked in most diverse culture editions and has been Head of poetry section of the newspaper "Literatūra un Māksla" (1986–1987), Editor-in-Chief of the cultural journal "Jaunās Grāmatas", culturological magazine "Grāmata" (1990–1992) and Editor-in- Chief of "Vārds", magazine of the Latvian Writers' Union (1993).

In 1992 he founded a private culturological magazine "Kentaurs XXI" and was its Editor-in-Chief till May, 2010. The magazine Kentaurs during its existence had not only secured a place and role of its own among other Latvian culture editions, but also acquired international acknowledgment. Several times it had represented Latvia at various international forums (Book Fairs of Munich and Göteborg, European Congress of Intellectuals in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, the 17 th European Meeting of Cultural Journals in Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

etc.).

Up to now 51 issues of the magazine "Kentaurs XXI" published by L. Briedis had appeared.

Since 1993 he is also the Director of a private Publishing House Minerva, which up to now published 67 humanities-related books of wide profile.

Awards and honors

For his contribution to understanding of contemporary qualities of poetry, life, and society, L.Briedis has received the "Ojārs Vācietis
Ojars Vacietis
Ojārs Vācietis was a Latvian writer.-References:...

Award" from the Latvian Association of Writers in 1988.
In 1989, at the Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...

International Festival of Poetry in Romania, L. Briedis was rewarded with an "Honorary Diploma" of the Romanian Association of Writers. Latvian National Administration for publishing, printing and circulation rewarded L. Briedis with Diploma for his "Best Translation of the Year", a selection of Grigore Vieru
Grigore Vieru
Grigore Vieru was a Moldavian poet and writer. He is mostly known for his poems and books for children. His poetry is characterized by vivid natural scenery, patriotism, as well as a venerated image of the sacred mother...

Romanian poetry.
In 1999, at the tenth International Poetic Festival dedicated to Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...

and held in Cluj - Napoca, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, L.Briedis received the "Special Award" for his translations of Romanian poetry and for popularization of Romanian culture in Latvia L. Briedis has received the prize of the Romanian Writers' Union, but in 1992 for publication of the culturological magazine "Grāmata" — prize of the Latvian Culture Ministry.
In 1997, he received the Award for Social Concord of the Soros Foundation — Latvia for special merits in promotion and development of multicultural relations between nations living in Latvia, since L. Briedis is one of the initiators of forming the Latvian Association of National Culture Societies and since 1988 actively participates in it.
In 1999, he received the highest award of the Republic of Latvia: the "Three Stars" Order (Triju Zvaigžņu Ordenis).
In 2003, he received the award of the Republic of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

– the Order of Honourable Merits (Ordem do Merito Comendador).
In 2004, he received the award of the Latvian Writers Union for the best translation of the year – the poetry book of the Portuguese poet Eugenio de Andrade "Water nightingale".
From 2007, he is the honorary member of the Academy of Science of Latvia and the Institute of the Philosophy and Sociology of Latvia, and also is a life's stipendiary of Latvian Cultural - Capital Foundation. He received the award of the Latvian Writers Union and Latvian Cultural - Capital Foundation for the best translation of the year - the poetry book of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...

"The Metaphysical Engineer" and the poetry book of the Italian poet Eugenio Montale
Eugenio Montale
Eugenio Montale was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975.- Early years :...

"The Men with the Fish - pots".
From 2007 he is the Honorary member of the World Haiku Association (Tokyo, Japan). And he has received the III award at the 18th international poetical festival in Druskininkai (Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

).
In 2008 he received the award of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Italy for the translation of E. Montales" book in Latvian and the award of the Latvian Writers Union and Latvian Cultural - Capital Foundation for the best translation of the year - the five poetry books of the Brazilian poets M. Mendes, M. Bandeira, C. Meireles, C. Drummond de Andrade and J. de Lima. And from 2003 he is the Honorary member of the Association of Fernando Pessoa (Lisbon, Portugal).

Published works

Books of Poetry:
"Lime Tree, Grass-Snake's Blood" (1974)
"Time To Cast A Shadow" (1977)
"A Circle Which Departs" (1981)
"After Midsummer Night's Eve" (1983)
"The Garden Of Essence" (1987)
"The Soul Of Passage" (1988)
"The Tree Of Sunset" (1994)
"A Sunday Amidst Eternity" (1994)
"The Half-Won Freedom" (1995)
"The Angel Of The Abyss" (1996)
"Lifestory and 33 Most Recent Poems" (1997)
"In reddish winter evenings" (1998)
"Dzedzieda" – I (1998)
"Dzedzieda" – II (1999)
"Armour of Shreds" (2000)
"Dzedzieda" – III" (2000)
"Without Entering I Go Away from Each Paradise (2004)
"Early Spring"(sonnets) (2005)
"The Life of Love" (2008)
"Let Us Say Nothing"(2009)
"Twilight Handwriting"(2009)
"Waves in Desert" (2009)

Poetry books for children:
"Here Lopes A Red-Bearded Hare" (1978)
"The Little Mermaid" (1982)
"While The Snail Was Out" (1984)
"The Whiskered Flower" (1990)
"The Gnome" (2004)

Books of fairy-tales for children:

"The Small, The Very Small" (1986)

"Bearded with Two Beards" (2007)

Essays:
"Nidas" (1982)
"Coeval of the Word" (2003)
"A Fast, Non - Existent Part" (2008)
"The Eternal Present", in collab. 1. vol. (2008)

Prose:

"Yearning Coloured in Blood" (novel) " (2000).

Translations:
Чинэ ку стеле Кишинэу Литература артистикэ 1985
После Иванова дня Москва Советский писателъ 1986
Поки равлика не було вдома Киив Веселка 1989
from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

: St. Augustine
St. Augustine
-People:* Augustine of Hippo or Augustine of Hippo , father of the Latin church* Augustine of Canterbury , first Archbishop of Canterbury* Augustine Webster, an English Catholic martyr.-Places:*St. Augustine, Florida, United States...

"Confessiones" (Book VIII and XIII); Boethius "On Console in Philosophy (2009); Basilius Plinius "Eulogy of Riga (1997); Juvenalis; Seneca
Seneca
-People:*Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Seneca the Younger aka Seneca , son of Seneca the Elder, Roman philosopher and playwright, tutor and advisor of Nero*Seneca the Elder , Roman orator and writer...

"Letters to Lucilius"; I. Loyola "The Spiritual Exercises"(fragments); F. Petrarca "Book of Letters on Everyday Matters"(fragments);
from Romanian: T. Arghezi "The Real Words" (1975); L. Damian "I Am A Verb" (1976); Nichita Stanescu
Nichita Stanescu
Nichita Stănescu was a Romanian poet and essayist. He is the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet, loved by the public and generally held in esteem by literary critics.-Biography:...

"Nothing Is Something Else" (1977); Selected works of Moldavian poets "From The Pink Hills" (1979); Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...

"The Seller Of Grasshoppers" (1982); Grigore Vieru
Grigore Vieru
Grigore Vieru was a Moldavian poet and writer. He is mostly known for his poems and books for children. His poetry is characterized by vivid natural scenery, patriotism, as well as a venerated image of the sacred mother...

"Friday Star" (1988); Anna Blandiana "The Snowy Hour" (1989); S. A. Doinas "Born In Utopia" (1999); Gellu Naum
Gellu Naum
Gellu Naum was a prominent Romanian poet, dramatist, novelist, children's writer, and translator. He is remembered as the founder of the Romanian Surrealist group...

"The Traveller Who Sets Ablaze" (1999); I.Malancioiu "Jeronim" (1999); Mircea Dinescu
Mircea Dinescu
Mircea Dinescu is a Romanian poet, journalist and editor.He was born in Slobozia, the son of Ştefan Dinescu, a metalworker and Aurelia . Dinescu studied at the Faculty of Journalism of the Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy, and was considered a gifted young poet during his youth, with several poetry...

"Terrorisation of the Common Sense" (1999); M. Sorescu "Wells in the Sea"(1999); O. Goga, G. Bacovia; E. Jonesco; E. Botta; I. Voronca; J. Horea; A. Dumbraveanu; J.Alexandru; G. Tomozei; P. Stoica; E. Jebeleanu; G. Tartler; V. Mihaiu; D. M. Jon, C. Ilica, Nichita Danilov
Nichita Danilov
Nichita Danilov is a Romanian poet. He served as the acting Ambassador of Romania to Moldova in 1999.-Early life:...

; J. Vieru; J. Flora; J. Pillat; C. Baltag; P. Stoica, E. Jebeleanu, J. Flora, G. Vulturescu, Vasile Moldovan (haiku), Leo Butnaru etc.;

The poets of Moldova

Moldova

( A. Robot, G. Vode, D. Matcovshi, J. Vatamanu etc.);
Z. Stancu "I Loved You So. Kostandina." (1978); P. Salcudeanu "The Death Of A Fashion - model" (1979); S. Vangeli (1979, 1986); Romanian folk -songs for children "ABC muzical" (2007); Christmas songs; the epitaphs of the cemetery of Sapinta (Maramureș

Maramures

Maramureș may refer to the following:*Maramureș, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureș Depression and Maramureș Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...

); Romanian fairy - tales (1986); Mircea Eliade

Mircea Eliade

Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...

"At The Gypses"; A. E. Baconsky "Black Abbey" (fragments); Anna Blandiana (stories); the prose of the writers of Moldova:
M. Sorescu "Lap"; D. Solomon "Water"; J.Druta (plays);
H. Vald (essays); T.Vianu (discources in literary sciences);

from Aromanian
Aromanian language
Aromanian , also known as Macedo-Romanian, Arumanian or Vlach is an Eastern Romance language spoken in Southeastern Europe...

: H.Candroveanu;
from Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

: sonnets by F. Petrarca ("Canzoniere", 1981); E. Montale "Men with Fish - pots" (2007); G. Leopardi; F. T. Marinetti (poems and manifests); G. Ungaretti; E. Montale; S. Quasimodo; A. T. Guerra; V. Sereni; G. Ballo; V. Ceiken, A. Porta, G. Raboni, M. Muchi, V. Magrelli, G. Giudici, S. Gallon, A. Zanzotto; P. Ruffilli; E. Filipo "The Art Of Comedy"; F.Fellini "Mrs. Rome"; M. Bontempelli "Four Preambles"; M.Ficino; Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...

"Innovation and Repetition";
from Sardinian: P. Mossa (poems);
from Friulano: P. P. Pasolini (poems);
from Rhaeto - Romanic: P. Lansel; A. Per;
from Catalan: S. Espriu "The Garden with five trees"(2002); P. Quart; G. Ferrater; C. Riba; J. Salvat - Papasseit; V. Panyella, Tx. Martinez Ingles (poetry); P. Kalders (stories);
from Spanish: Federico Garcia Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...

; R. Alberti "Sailor On Land"; Juan Ramon Jimenez
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956. One of Jiménez's most important contributions to modern poetry was his advocacy of the French concept of "pure poetry."-Biography:Jiménez was born in Moguer, near Huelva, in...

(poems); Juan Ramon Jimenez
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956. One of Jiménez's most important contributions to modern poetry was his advocacy of the French concept of "pure poetry."-Biography:Jiménez was born in Moguer, near Huelva, in...

"Platero and I" (1988, 2004); Jose Luis Borges; O. Paz; E. Diego; J. Marti; J. Cortazar; C. Vallejo; M. Hernandez ; L. Cernuda; M. L. Melo; Hernando Quiroga "Anaconda"; R. Dario; J. Goytisolo (essays); Jose Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...

"The Poverty And Brightness Of Translation", "A Theme Of Our Time", fragments of the book "The Man and the Men";
from French: Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...

"The Myth Of The Eternal Return" (1995), "The Sacral And Profane" (1996), "Sexualised World" (fragments of the book "Smiths and Metallurgists"; E. Cioran; J. Maritain "Philosopher In The State"; M. Blanchot (essays); P. Aries "Judgements At The End Of Times. The Book Of Life"; H. Bergson (fragments from the books "The Creative Evolution" and "Laughter") ; J. Starobinski "The Irony and Melancholy"(fragments); P.Valery (essays); A. Artaud " Theatre and Its Double"; poets of Cameroons (R. Philombe, Ch. Ngande), Senegal (L. Sedar Senghor, D. Diop, B. Diop, M. Fall, S. Usman), Haiti (A. Cesaire), Morocco (M. Bennis);
from Portuguese: Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...

"The Lost Garden (1983, 1999); "The Anthology of the Portuguese Contemporary Poetry" (2001; edition bilingual; 27 authors; 480 pages; the second edition in 2003); E. de Andrade "Water Nightingale" (edition bilingual, 2003); H. Helder "The Continues Poem" (2004); A. Hatherly "Tiny Fibres" (2005); Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...

(Alvaro de Campos) "Metaphysical Engineer" (2006); The Anthology of Azorean Poetry (2009); S. de M. Breyner Andresen "The Anemone of the Days"(2010); A. Neto "With Dry Eyes" (1978); C. Pacheco, L. M. Nava, M. Alegre (poems); poets of Angola (A. Santos, A. Cardoso, A. Dascalos, D. Mestre, J. Rocha, G. Rodrigues, M. E. Neto, R. David), Mozambique (J. Craveirinha), Santome e Principe; poets of Brazil: M. Bandeira "A Carnival Wednesday Night's Dream"(2008); J. de Lima "Black Fulo"(2008); C. Meireles "Herdswoman of Clouds"(2008); C. Drummond de Andrade "A House without Roots"(2008); M. Mendes "Church, Woman"(2008); R. Bopp; V. de Morais; M. de Andrade; G. de Almeida; J. Cabral de Melo Neto; H. Costa;
from Galisian: Rosalia de Castro
Rosalía de Castro
María Rosalía Rita de Castro , was a Galician romanticist writer and poet.Writing in the Galician language, after the Séculos Escuros , she became an important figure of the Galician romantic movement, known today as the Rexurdimento , along with Manuel Curros Enríquez and Eduardo Pondal...

:
from English: T. S. Eliot (poems and essays); W. B. Yeats (essays); S. Beckett (poems); W. Soyinka (poems and plays); E. Fromm "Freedom And Spontaneity"; J. Campbell "Erotic Irony"; G. Greene (essays); M. Eliade "The Aspects of Myth"(1999), "World, City, Home";
from Icelandic: Sigurdur A. Magnusson (poems);
from Russian: I. Turgenev; A. Arbuzov; V. Korostilov; J. Akim; J. Kasyanich;
from Ukrainian: I. Pavliuc, O. Olzych, M. Hvilhovij (poems);
from Czech: Christmas songs;
from Macedonian B. Guzel, B. Višinski, M. Stefanovski (poems);
from Dutch: H. Huizinga "Homo ludens" (Chapter VII and XII);
from Albanian: J.Kadare, B.Ymeri, G. Hajdari (poems);
from Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

: S. Robert (stories);
from Afrikaanse: B. Breitenbah (poems);
from Yoruba
Yoruba language
Yorùbá is a Niger–Congo language spoken in West Africa by approximately 20 million speakers. The native tongue of the Yoruba people, it is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and in communities in other parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas...

: Oriki
Oríkì
Oríkì, or praise poetry, is a cultural phenomenon among the Yòrùbá-speaking people of West Africa.- Oríkì Characteristics :Oríkì varies in length depending on whether it's the name given to a child to describe the future portents of his or her life or a recital of the accomplishments of a person's...

(folk songs);
from Igbo: Chibo Oneyi (poems).
from Malagasian: J. Rabemananjara, J. J. Rabearivelo, Radu ( G. Andriamanantena), R. Zanamiotra (poetry) and folks -songs (hainteny).

Early life

Family

Later life

Awards and honors

Published works

Links