Interview with Tarso de Melo

Abstract

On February 15, 2022, while the pandemic still cast its lingering shadow, I met online via videoconference with the poet Tarso de Melo, author of Íntimo desabrigo (2017, Dobradura Editorial and Alpharrabio Edições) and over a dozen other poetry collections. Tarso is also an editor, the coordinator of Círculo de Poemas (a poetry series from Fósforo publishing house), and holds a PhD in Philosophy of Law from USP. He is currently conducting postdoctoral research in literary theory at UNICAMP. The interview took place within the context of my doctoral research – defended in April 2023 under the title “Transcriar a imagem poética em Margem de manobra, de Claudia Roquette-Pinto” (Transcreating the Poetic Image in Margem de manobra by Claudia Roquette-Pinto) – which involved the transcreation of poems by the Rio-born poet; consequently, many of the reflections aim to critically examine the work and circulation of poets active in the 1990s. My selection criteria prioritized a poet capable of offering (auto)critical reflections from an insider’s perspective, helping to understand the hegemonic trends and power dynamics within 1990s poetry production. I sent six semi-structured questions in advance, and the interview began with a relaxed conversation addressing these points, while also allowing the openness and fluidity to explore other topics relevant to contemporary poetry that were not explicitly included in the original list of questions. Rather than a standard question-and-answer session, the meeting served as a space for exchange that fostered a natural conversation, aiming to delve deeper into the interviewee's poetic experience. What follows is a transcript of the questions sent to the poet in advance, followed by the conversation itself, which has been edited for readability.