Augusto dos Anjos: uma biografia

Abstract

A pamphlet in defense of the memory of the poet Augusto dos Anjos. This is how this major work launched by journalist Fernando Melo can be defined. It should not be read as a common work, just another one of the extensive bibliography that exists around the poet from Engenho Pau D'Arco. It is much more than that. In fact, a biography that does not seek to establish absolute truths, but shows, above all, the concern to correct distorted myths regarding the author of "Versos Íntimos". The less attentive reader may be left with the impression that Fernando Melo is only trying to create controversy around the memory of Augusto dos Anjos. This distracted reader must imagine that this is another work trying to delve into the life of the poet, looking for the craziest reasons to justify the difficult and morbid vocabulary of Augusto dos Anjos. A happy and providential mistake for those who think so. Fernando Melo, in fact, does not shy away from the controversial issues of our old man's life. And he could not. No person, with the intention of talking about the life of Augusto dos Anjos, will ever achieve this feat. Only if he were as skeptical as the poet shows himself to be in his verses would he be able to ignore the mists that insist on obscuring a better understanding of the life and work of Augusto dos Anjos.