Nuno Júdice (Portugal) 1949

 Nuno Júdice (Portugal) 

1949 

Born in Mexilhoeira Grande, Portugal on April 29, 1949, Nuno Júdice graduated in Romance Philology at the University of Lisbon. He received his PhD at the Universidade Nova (New University) in 1989, where is now professor. 

      From 1997 to 2004 Júdice served as cultural attaché for Portugal in Paris. He has also served as advisor to the Instituto Camões. 

     The author has written numerous books of fiction (beginning with Última Palavra: "Sim" /Last word: "Yes") in 1977. He has also published plays and literary criticism. But he is best known as a poet, with 30 books of poetry to date. His first volume was A Noção de Poema (The Notion of a Poem) in 1972, followed, that same year with O Pavão Sonoro (The Sound of Peacocks). 

     In 1985 he received the PEN Award for Lira de Liquen (Lichen Lyre), and in 1994 he was awarded the Portuguese Association of Writers award for Meditação sobre Ruinas (Meditation on Ruins). The book was also a finalist for the European literary prize, Aristeion. 

     He published a volume of collected poems in 2001. Júdice also edited the literary magazine, Tabacaria (The Tobacconist). 

    Translator Richard Zenith writes of Júdice's poetry: We find, lightly embedded in his verses, a profound theoretical reflection on life and on individual lives – lives he has perhaps lived, or dreamt, or witnessed. Some of the poems read like parables or allegories, but what do the symbols mean? Maybe they don’t mean anything, and maybe that doesn’t matter. Júdice’s poetry is a journey through memories, visions, real and imagined experiences, ideas and hypotheses, without any hope – or concern – to arrive at a conclusion." 

BOOKS OF POETRY 

A Noção de Poema (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 1972); O Pavão Sonoro (1972); Crítica Doméstica dos Paralelipipedos (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 1973); As Inumeráveis Águas (Lisbon: Assírio & Alvim, 1974); O Mecanismo Romântico da Fragmentação (Porto: Inova, 1975); Nos Braços da Exigua Luz (1976); O Corte na Ênfase (Oporto: Inova, 1978); O Voo de Igitur num Copo de Dados (Lisbon: & etc., 1981); A Partiha Dos mitos (1982); Lira de Líquen (Lisbon: Rolim, 1985); A Condescendência do Ser (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1988); Enumeração de Sombras (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1989); As Regras da Perspectiva (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1990); Uma Sequêde Outubro (1991); Obra Poética 1972-1985 (1991); Um Canto na Espessura do Tempo (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1992); Meditação sobre Ruínas (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1995); O Movimento do Mundo (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1996); Poems em Voz Alta (1996); A Fonte da Vida (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1997); Raptos (1998); Teoria Geral do Sentimento (Lisbon: Quetzal, 1999); Poesia Reunida (1967-2000) (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 2000); Cartografia de Emoções (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 2001); O Estado dos Campos (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 2003); Geometria variável (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 2005); As coisas mais simples (2006); A Matéria do Poema (2008); O Breve Sentimento do Eterno (2008); Guia de Conceitos Básicos (Lisbon: Publicações Dom Quixote, 2010) 

For a video of Júdice reading from his poetry in Portuguese, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jHhHAqMgf8