In his 1942 philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd. We all know life can be really weird sometimes, but making a whole philosophy out of it? Only Camus is able to do that. Born in Algeria in 1913, one of the best French philosophers Albert Camus lived in a world torn apart by two World Wars. He was … Continue reading Imagine Sisyphus happy!
João Guimarães Rosa is one of the names of Brazilian literature you absolutely need to know. Most known for his best-seller The Devil to Pay in the Backlands, he also published short stories and poetry. I decided to discover this author through his verses, a collection of poems called Magma, published posthumously in 1997. In his lifetime, João Guimarães Rosa never thought his work was … Continue reading Brazilian literature: #2 João Guimarães Rosa – Magma
How do we write a poem? Where does inspiration come from? What does it take to be a poet? Is being visited by the muses a torture or a bliss?To answer these questions, I chose two poems by authors whose personalities represent the true nature of poetry – melancholy and plurality. The French symbolist Charles Baudelaire compares poets with albatrosses, seabirds tortured by sailors. Fernando … Continue reading Being a poet: between agony and privilege
Ovid – Metamorphoses In the book XV of the Metamorphoses, Ovid talks about a philosopher who greatly influenced him – Pythagoras. Born in 570 BC in Samos, Pythagoras contributed to mathematics with his scientific discoveries, including the Pythagorean theorem, the Theory of proportions, the sphericity of the Earth, etc. He was a strict vegetarian and he implored people to adopt his diet. It is a … Continue reading Vegetarianism in literature: 9 vegetarian authors and their thoughts on plant-based diet
Art of Saudade 