NOTES

[NOTES]

[0010] "Sonnetto Nojento" is essentially a strong poetic defense of fetishism, emphasizing the relativity of notions of "normality" and questioning canonized notions of "good taste." Once again, the poetic voice attacks the judgmental subject, finding perverse and repulsive patterns in conventional everyday choices and practices. Most of his examples revolve around images of food, relevant in the sense that his fetish is orally celebrated. Ultimately, determining what is "normal" becomes an impossibility. Mattoso maximizes linguistic strategies to achieve this effect. For example, the paranomastic link between "pé" (foot) and "pó" (dust) makes this combination much more aesthetically connected than "cha gelado" (iced tea) and "peixe cru" (raw fish). [0012] Other interrelated facets of the performative identities of the poetic voice appear throughout the collection [see 0028]. In "Sonnetto Solado," for example, Mattoso characterizes, for the first time in his poetic universe, his own blindness as an integral element of masochism and self-degradation. Strangely, the poem, in the form of an advertisement of services addressed to one who possesses authority over him -- half-heroically, half-cowardly -- seems to transcend the physical and emotional pain of irreversible glaucoma into a sexualized outcome which only solidifies the desire to suffer self-inflicted and othersolicited cruelties. But the poet, of course, manipulates the tragedy of his blindness to heighten the will to suffer. Certainly, the poem satisfies the Deleuzian prerequisite of a contractual arrangement initiated by the masochist-victim. The poetic voice deepens his own degradation by adding his blindness to the equation of inferiority. Almost as if his physical condition provides further justification for his unchosen masochism, blindness is treated as yet another symbol of humiliation within the larger inferiority complex that Mattoso carefully constructs. Sustaining a self-imprisonment that simultaneously evokes bitterness and gratification, the poetic voice is fully conscious of his desire to suffer and to serve as "capacho" (door-mat) to an arrogant man who is defined as superior merely because of his ability to see and because of his eroticized feet. In the Mattosian poetic universe, feet

come to symbolize virility and power, for they alone are in full connection and have complete command over the dirt and filth that they tread upon.

[0017] "Sonnetto Sadico" is one of the few poems in the collection that makes no allusion to the eroticized foot. In fact, sexuality is not even overtly included until the final stanza. Its bitter verses reveal a cruel poetic voice who seeks satisfaction and perhaps revenge in observing the suffering of political authorities. However, the gratification he derives is grounded in the mind rather than the body. This sonnet, calling for a sort of solidarity among poets, highlights the intellectual power of the poetic office/trade; that is, the ability to use words as weapons, in this case aimed at destroying or demoralizing public officials. The final three verses construct an image of violent sodomy to counterattack the crooked politician, "espeto-lhe o loló com minha espada," as a metaphor for the destructive capabilities Mattoso attributes to the power of the pen. Political satire is an art cultivated by a long legacy of poets writing in the tradition of transgression, of which Mattoso is merely one of its most recent members. Transgressive poets like Gregorio de Mattos certainly did not earn the title of "Bocca do Inferno" in vain.

[0018] Politicians remain the object of Mattoso's hostility in "Sonnetto Masochista." The first two stanzas of the sonnet are highly characteristic of the poetry of social protest written especially in the 1960s and 70s by poets like Haroldo de Campos, Augusto de Campos,Ferreira Gullar, and many other contemporary Brazilian poets who have produced socially-themed poetry. The first eight verses lament the corruption and insensitivity of public officials and decry the suffering and pain of the disenfranchised, whether marginalized by poverty, disability, or illiteracy. In the second half of the poem, however, an entirely different tone emerges, one in which the poetic voice desires to be on the receiving end of the humiliation perpetrated by the senator-torturer, proposing a contract wherein he promises to love the toe-jam ("amar chulé"), or use his tongue to polish the feet of the senator. The resulting image is one of total submission, for the metaphor is not only that of a dog obediently licking his master but,indeed, a dog who does not bark; that is, one who joyfully welcomes his own humiliation without any inclination to protest the abuses which may

result from becoming a bath-giver to clean the literal and metaphorical dirt off the toes of his oppressor. The transitional verse, "Si a coisa continua nesse pé" is an excellent example of how Mattoso's absurd and humorous word games, explored in the discussion of the JORNAL DOBRABIL, are evident even in his classical sonnets. The incorporation of such puns into such a refined, conventional poetic form makes their presence even more transgressive, for they sardonically mock the very seriousness of the classical Camonian model.

[0019] The normalization and veritable advertisement of the pleasures of foot fetishism is not the sole objective of Mattoso's project. Many poems endorse the pleasure of perversity itself, a joyfulness where survival is dependent on resisting integration with sexual norms and maintaining the mark of subversion. Mattoso accomplishes this re-radicalization of his departure from the norm by exploiting differences of desire that pertain to foot fetishism itself. For example, "Sonnetto Antiesthetico" is the ultimate valorization of the antiaesthetic, for it presents and then systematically rejects allusions to foot fetishism found and canonized in Western and particularly Brazilian literary traditions. The poetic voice is not inclined to worship an object that is beautiful, sweet, and perfumed. Instead, he renounces any attraction to the purity and daintiness symbolized by the feet of a young woman. It is important to note that he is careful to renounce any hint of misogyny, establishing that his sexual attraction to the male foot does not equate to a hatred toward women: "Não vou dizer que é femea o que abomino." However, the poet clearly announces that he is not enticed by the aesthetically acceptable curves and arch of the foot he desires. Rather, in camp terminology, it might be said that he is a "size queen," sexually stimulated by the flatness and width of a large masculine foot. [see 0024] Similarly, dirt and odor replace the perfumed, sweet fragrance that emanates from the feet of the heroine. The pun in the final verse is significant, for "pé de pata," literally referring to the web of a female duck, also carries the slang connotation of a big foot. "Pato," the male duck, also has a colloquial rendering as a "bad player" or a "sucker," both configurations to which this Brazilian "maudit" poet self-identifies. [see 0065] [0020] Mattoso's "Sonnetto Autobiographico" defines a poetic

voice who sees his present-day masochism and foot fetishism as inevitable outcomes of the sadistic events he suffered as a child. One of the few poems in the collection that is concerned with tracing identity to traumatic experiences in formative years, this poem neither glorifies his own sexual uniqueness nor judges it. He is primarily concerned with clarifying that he did not choose any of the sexual facets of his identity. They emerged, rather, as a cause-and-effect relationship between the past and the present. The phrase "queira ou não queira" clearly alludes to a decision to reserve judgment, to remain neutral on the repercussions and consequences of the abuses suffered as a child. The verb "brincar" appears in this poem as it does in so many of Mattoso's works. Its usage is reminiscent of the semi-serious, semi-ludic exploitation of the term in Mario de Andrade's MACUNAHYMA, one of the most fundamental texts written during Brazilian Modernism. In the sense it is used here, "brincavam com as taras," the reader may infer an experimental sense of playfulness, in which the acts highlighted in the poem may be sadistic in nature but not entirely uninnocent. After all, even though the abuse was not perpetrated by peers belonging to the age group of the poetic voice, they are still characterized as "caras mais velhos" and elsewhere as "moleques." Surely, this chapter need not elaborate upon the tendency of children to be cruel to others perceived as weaker, inferior, or different in any way. The abundance of grotesque and violent images of coerced subjugation in this poem does not function as an apology for an identity assumed in the present but rather a rational explanation for the possession of such aberrant desires. Becoming "the scum of the foot worshippers" is a self-attributed title in which the poetic voice seems to derive great pride and satisfaction. [see 0355]

[0023] Pain, for Mattoso's poetic voice, seems inextricably linked to personal identity. To remove pain from his poetic universe would subsequently result in a silencing of his voice. The "Sonnetto Futurista" romanticizes the pain of humiliation, using intertextual references to George Orwell's 1984 and Anthony Burgess' A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Mattoso appropriates their horrifying visions of the future to paint a landscape where cruelty rules and where the masochistic urges of the poetic voice to demean himself are socially accepted. The only essential difference between the past and the present of the subject's life is "Glauco"'s blindness, conveyed in an almost

optimistic light in this sonnet which cultivates suffering. The third stanza is particularly poignant, for it identifies "Glauco" as an actor in a present where he is trapped with grieving the loss of an abusive past. The masochistic poetic voice does not complain here of the traumas he suffered as a child; rather he laments the fact that those days have passed and that he no longer has the attention of the sadistic perpetrators who shaped his formative years. The only thing that has changed, he maintains, is the fact that he has lost his vision. However, this poem is somewhat peculiar in the unemotional, almost stoic way in which he confronts this loss. The tone of the poetic voice is one in which his mourning is far more profound for the lack of sadistic oppression, and he remains quite uncharacteristically resigned about his blindness. In my analysis, Mattoso's strategy is to designate the role of masochism as being far more fundamental and important to his identity than even the ability to see. Indeed, as in the tradition of Bataille's pleasurable pain, Mattoso's repression of his own feelings regarding his blindness and the painful disease that caused it may be the very condition for the pleasure that results. On the other hand, the abrupt manner in which the poem ends deliberately does not conceal a deep bitterness toward his lot in life. [see 0047]

[0024] A similar rupture of aesthetic attitudes toward foot worship [see 0019] can be found in a number of Mattoso's poems throughout the CENTOPÉA. For example, in "Sonnetto Historico," the poetic voice elaborates specific requirements for his object of desire, factors which must be met as a prerequisite for the stimulation of his libido. Then, he attempts to locate ancient civilizations where his tastes were once revered and appreciated by others: {Ouvi que o pé que tenho procurado, / com seu dedão mais curto que o segundo, / ja foi muito commum no Antigo Mundo / e "grego" seu formato hoje é chamado.} Poems like this one demonstrate that the poet does indeed have an aesthetic prescription for the foot he desires but it is clearly one which bears little connection to the Western canon. Indeed, even podophilia has its standards of cleanliness and aesthetic appeal in conformity with historical literary tastes. In the Brazilian tradition, erotic foot imagery is evidenced, for example, in José de Alencar's A PATTA DA GAZELLA, which is essentially a rewriting of the Cinderella fable, adapted to the aristocracy of nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro. What has traditionally been

considered acceptable in the Western canon is the admiration (if not a disguised or aestheticized fetish) for the feminine, delicate,tiny foot, imbued with an erotic symbolism that accentuates the sensuality of the female body. Mattoso's performance is dependent upon a rupture of the aesthetically perfumed foot of a lady, preferring instead the stinky, toejaminfested, large, flat feet of a "machão." [see 0401]

[0026] In "Sonnetto Lyrico," we see a marked contrast from the stoicism conveyed in the poem above [0023]. Instead, the poetic voice declares an anguished lamentation of his blindness, believing his life to be deprived of romantic companionship because of it. He argues that vision is the way to access the erotic and that love, consequently, is only for the sighted. The physical pain expressed in this poem is not a desired one, no matter how well Mattoso plays the role of the masochist. His sexual energies are stifled by constant headaches, provoked by the pressure build-up characteristic of glaucoma. Not only are his eyes rendered useless, but the only functionality they have is to cause him further pain. [see 0073 and 0234]

[0027] In Mattoso's semi-parodic quest to depathologize the foot as an avenue to the attainment of erotic pleasures, he composes a number of sonnets that satirically point out the importance of the foot as a symbol in contemporary Brazilian culture. Equating socially-sanctioned activities with sexual practices and thereby reaffirming both, Mattoso's poetic voice is determined to glorify the sanctity of the foot in his own culture as well as others, notably France and Germany. [see 0037 and 0070] The absurdity of some of his conclusions is quite humorous, especially the generalizations on the foot's connection to "brazilidade," such as this one: "O pé do brazileiro é vagabundo." ("Sonnetto Historico," [0024]). In "Sonnetto Brazileiro," Mattoso wonders why his foot fetishism is perceived as foreign and treated with such disdain in a culture where a passion toward the feet is reflected in its most nationalistic activities. [see 0050 and 0500]

[0028] The motif of fetishism is most notable in CENTOPÉA: SONNETTOS NOJENTOS & QUEJANDOS, a collection of 100 Camonian (heroic) sonnets, where the precise decasyllabic pattern is rigorously and consistently (perhaps one can even say

fetishistically) maintained throughout all of the poems. The unifying themes addressed in this work are as obsessively repetitive as the rigid model in which they are placed: the homoerotic love of the male foot and the simultaneous cultivation and lamentation of masochistic suffering. The entire collection was composed in 1999 over a period of three months and then published shortly thereafter. In light of the discussion above, it may indeed be most appropriate to begin with a discussion of the "Sonnetto Psychanalytico," where Mattoso parodically addresses the work of Freud on fetishism. Mattoso's poetic voice, as is the case with the majority of poems in CENTOPÉA: SONNETTOS NOJENTOS & QUEJANDOS, takes a confessional tone, openly admitting an inferiority complex. At the same time, the poet proudly demystifies the complexity of psychoanalytic theories of fetishism by stating, quite simply, that the foot is the phallic symbol to which he subscribes. The opening verse, alerting the reader immediately that to understand his "ego" is anything but complicated, enhances the naturalization or normalization of the "perversity" being reclaimed. The simplistic words and frank language, "O pé, symbolo phallico evidente / illustra todo o tal do inconsciente" sarcastically cut the psychoanalyst to the chase, for in the ownership of his fetish, the poetic voice requests no diagnosis of its origins nor does he desire recommendations to "normalize" his aberration. However, it is quite clear that the poet does not merely see the foot as an instrument to attain erotic satisfaction. His "libido," he claims, will be stimulated only once he becomes humiliated during the sexual encounter. The foot, then, is imbued not only with aesthetic sensuality and eroticism but also with violence and subjugation -- the power to step on, to crush, to reduce the inflated ego of a classical sonnetist to the role of human doormat. This sonnet summarizes Mattoso's use of foot fetishism as an avenue to attain masochistic fantasies of degradation. In the colloquialization of complex psychoanalytic concepts like "Edipo" and "libido," Mattoso effectively subverts the cerebral intellectualizations under which fetishism is evaluated and judged, reducing the jargon to its bare elements in order to access a natural and potent eroticism. The formula for sexual stimulation is a simple one, which does not directly involve using genitality. The sexual exchange consists of the scent and the feel of the sole of a man's foot, for the self-acknowledged blindness of the poetic voice deprives him of any visual satisfaction. Because

he cannot see in a conscious mode, the "sonhos coloridos," the ability to dream in color, heightens his erotic imagination. For me, the "sonhos coloridos" are a metaphor for a sort of compensation; the colorfulness of fantasies is enhanced since his access to the visual is now permanently deprived. In any case, the actions themselves are clearly specified: the bottom of the foot is treated to a bath performed by the poet's tongue. The encounter is not -- need not be -- developed any further. Within the framework of conventional genital sexuality, such a scene would be undoubtedly viewed as perverse -- even if it occurred between heterosexual partners. More importantly, even if the actions of the event were not judgmentally assessed, they would most certainly be perceived as a prelude to further sexual activity, an act of "foreplay" or the sexualized "brincadeira" or "sacanagem" in Brazilian Portuguese. Mattoso's sonnet is frozen at the moment where the tongue makes contact with the sole of the foot, implying that the climax, the height of passion for the poetic voice, occurs at precisely this point. [about colors, see also 0613]

[0032] The poetic voice may not be accused, therefore, of embracing an anti-aesthetic posture for its own sake or merely to self-identify as a radical subject. Indeed, in poems like "Sonnetto Christão," where the poetic voice assumes the identity of a "cego pervertido," proudly celebrating his own "verve e perversão," there remains a constant need to reaffirm the subversive perversity of his desires, an argument proclaimed as vigorously as the goal to normalize these very desires.

[0033] Mattoso uses the foot fetish to construct a bridge -- a marriage so to speak -- of sadism with masochism. His "Sonnetto Chinez" demonstrates that the foot is an almost mystical emblem of eroticism -- and particularly sadomasochism -- throughout Chinese history. Not only does the poet use the metaphor of the foot to symbolize and generalize practices of sexual domination and submission throughout Chinese civilization, but he also exploits the image to derive gender constructs that are specific to the nation he is characterizing. Furthermore, he successfully subverts Deleuze's theory which holds the suffering position to be almost exclusively male. In ancient Chinese culture, women have stoically accepted foot-binding as part of their submission to the sexual desires of the males. The dainty female foot, virtually crushed and broken into its tiny size, is juxtaposed

against the image of the cruel fighting feet of the male. The foot in the face of the defeated opponent or foe represents a phallic victory just as the penis is used to represent the violence and "machismo" of patriarchy. In other words, Mattoso inscribes the human foot with the same (self-)destructive powers used to define male and female sex organs in conventional psychoanalytic theories.

[0035] A significant portion of the poet's performance revolves around a continual reassertment of foot and boot fetishism. This sexual universe is exploited to propose a more fluid, less non-judgmental posture toward diverse sexualities. However, the de-intensification of the male sexual organs and the reobjectification of foot and the tongue in its place also has the powerful effect of decentering phallogocentric discourse. This activity occurs on a literal level, despite Mattoso's attempt to equalize the substitution by arguing that the foot functions as his phallus, a parodic assertion made in the "Sonnetto Psychanalytico" examined earlier [see 0028]. The performative nature of Mattoso's fetishism is reflected quite well in the "Sonnetto Linguopedal," where the poetic voice rebelliously declares: "Creei assim um vivo typo novo: / o podofellador profissional. / Meu nome andou na má lingua do povo." This highly ludic poem, which overtly admits "Em tudo vejo logo a sacanagem," presents a neologism which replaces the penis with the feet and maintains the orality of the mouth as the tool used to generate sexual stimulation. As such, no genital contact is made during the encounter. While I have examined this proposal in previous sonnets discussed throughout this chapter, the "Sonnetto Linguopedal" is fundamental in that it calls for the professionalization of this new category of sexual service. As a result of the poetic voice's glorification and personal association with such a perverse practice, he suffers (or delights) in the negative reputation which he has created for himself. Out of this creative perversity comes rejection, repugnance, and condemnation. However, Mattoso's choice of words, "má lingua," also parodies the inexperienced tongues of his enemies, for in their inability to comprehend Mattoso's sexual universe, they have demonstrated their own sexual shortcomings and lack of imagination. In addition, "má lingua" may be interpretated from the romanticized negativity, the "lado maldicto," of the marginalized poet who still takes pride in the "badness" of his perversity as late as 1999. According to

David William Foster's bio-critical sourcebook [LATIN AMERICAN WRITERS ON GAY AND LESBIAN THEMES. Westport, Greenwood, 1994], {Mattoso's most ambitious work brings together his analysis of so-called dirty sex and the judicious use of bibliographic sources. MANUAL DO PODOLATRA AMADOR: ADVENTURAS & LEITURAS DE UM TARADO POR PÉS (Manual of the Amateur Foot Fetishist: Adventures and Readings of Someone Really into Feet; 1986) is loosely structured as the autobiography of the narrator, who describes his discovery, through the initiation rites of an academic fraternity [see 0052], that he is a foot fetishist. His sexual explorations and development, both heterosexual and homosexual, turn on the increasingly metonymic displacement of sexual possibilities, especially those of the allegedly dirty variety, toward the foot -- dirty or clean, shod or bare -- and include the establishment of a professional practice based on the manipulation of the foot to cure illness and disease, with the added dimension of the erotic possibilities of that manipulation (at least for the attending professional). In part a sendup of Western-style sex manuals and first-person "sentimental education" narratives, Mattoso's work is most productively read as part of his larger literary project of naturalizing the supposedly outer fringes of erotic experience and, in the process, underscoring the hypocrisies and ideological slippages of heterosexism. Thus, one of the virtues attributed to foot fetishes is a range of intensely erotic experiences that all fall within the range of safe sex, since the MANUAL poses the rhetorical question of how many people have contracted AIDS through pedal manipulation. With the graphic artist Marcatti, Mattoso has produced a comic book version of the MANUAL, AS ADVENTURAS DE GLAUCOMIX, O PODOLATRA (The Adventures of Glaucomix, the Foot Lover; 1990).} A more detailed analysis of the MANUAL DO PODOLATRA AMADOR can be found in Foster's essay "Some Proposals for the Study of Latin American Gay Culture," in his book CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1994).

[0037] Two notable examples deserve mention: "Sonnetto Gallicista," which celebrates the contributions of Sade and Rétif, and "Sonnetto Teutonico" [see 0070], which relishes the work of Goethe and Musil and includes a powerful final stanza, reading as follows: "O pé germanico é, como o racismo, / synonymo de força e de oppressão. / Meu fracco é imaginal-o com lyrismo." [see 0027]

[0038] Mattoso's grotesquely absurd "Sonnetto Modernista" opens with the following valid but controversial question: "Quem foi mais importante, Oswaldo ou Mario?" Ultimately, by the end of the sonnet, the reader learns that only a single criterion is used to resolve this question, transcending any serious evaluations of their contributions: the size and shape of their feet. Mario de Andrade is the victor of course, for "O Mario tinha pé mais largo e chato." This sonnet, beginning with a serious question and concluding with a ridiculous answer, satirizes the (lack of) decision-making when an author's work is granted or denied canonization. The fetishistic obsession of the poetic voice is so powerful and blinding that he is willing to overlook any bona fide characteristics to evaluate two of the most fundamental modernists in Brazilian literature. I do not believe this poem denigrates the work of either of the authors in question; rather, I think it is highly critical of literary critics and their criteria on which they base the merits of the works they evaluate.

[0041] Mattoso is [...] trying to show how fetishism may be an expression of everyday lives, carving out an autonomous sense of self whose boundaries resist simplistic categorization. However, Mattoso simultaneously adopts and mocks the traditional psychoanalytic theory which views all fetishes as phallic symbols and therefore deliberately reduces the complexity and multiple levels of meaning explored in feminist writings on fetishism since the 1980s. Much of this work has effectively shown that the idea of perversion is completely dependent upon the patriarchal subscription to genital heterosexuality as the norm in sexual relations. Mattoso's poetry, filled with protests against anti-phallogocentric impositions upon an autonomous self, most certainly subscribes politically to the neutralization of "perversion" explored above. His "Sonnetto Orogenital" conveys contempt for heterosexual fellatio, relocating the sexual activity far below the equator and reconfiguring what is conventionally conceived as "fore-play" or "end-pleasures" to the center stage of the sexual performance. The poem laments the rigid roles of submission that the woman is expected to play in patriarchal cultures. Her responsibility, the poetic voice implies, is to quietly satisfy the desires of the man, subjecting herself to the the foul odor of "cockcheese" that emanates from the foreskin of the penis and

ingesting vast quantities of his semen and urine. The experience of oral sex is rendered, at the hands of the poet, a repulsive one, thereby inverting and demeaning the age-old "lesson" of fellatio to the status of perversion. The use of the phrase "zona impura" contributes further to the pathologizing of erotically-acceptable behaviors in general. By the same token, he inserts the foot in the place of the penis, normalizing the act of oral sex itself while arguing that the only essential difference in foot worship is the body's natural emission of other foul odors. In fact, the poetic voice seems to advertise the benefits of sucking the foot, for it is wider than the penis and does not entail the ingestion of repulsive and potentially harmful bodily substances. As we have seen before, Mattoso is literalizing and simplifying (thus mocking) Freudian psychoanalytic theories which cannot escape the phallus as a point of reference to any and all sexual desires. [see 0139]

[0047] [see 0023]

[0050] Mattoso's definition of "machismo," in addition to being homoerotic, sanctifies the skillful feet of the soccer player. In "Sonnetto Futebollistico," he declares: "Machismo é futebol e amor aos pés. / São machos adorando pés de macho." [see 0027]

[0052] Mattoso's "Sonnetto Estudantil" is undoubtedly a poetic expression of the extensive research that went into his 1985 sociological work, O CALVARIO DOS CARECAS: HISTORIA DO TROTE ESTUDANTIL. In addition to clearly delineating roles of master and slave, torturer and tortured, Mattoso reveals in this poem an apparent agreement with [...] perspective that the masochist, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, is better defined as manipulator than as victim. As is customary in Mattoso's sonnets, the epitome of his transgressive expression is thoroughly revealed only in the final stanza, where, in this case, he subverts the victimization of the initiate. He applauds his own successful manipulation of his oppressor, actually soliciting and directing the abuse he receives at the feet of the sadist. Contrary to the common belief that the masochist is victim, the poetic voice in this poem, performing the deceptive role of "calouro disfarsado," is in total command of the situation. Indeed, the irony evident in the final three verses causes the reader to pause and contemplate fluid roles of perpetrator and victim. The "sacanagem" has been successfully

inverted; Mattoso's ultimate pleasure apparently stems from making a victim out of the torturer and in affirming that the masochist indeed has the upper hand in the exchange. [0060] One of the most recurrent motifs in CENTOPÉA: SONNETTOS NOJENTOS & QUEJANDOS is a poetic voice who wears a mask of masochism and celebrates an individuation and individuality based on embracing unconventional sexual practices. However, as is customary in Mattoso's verse, no pretense to originality is made. In fact, the poet constantly reasserts that he is merely performing and perhaps rejuvenating themes which belong to an extensive tradition of literature of transgression, from the Western canon to the earliest verses constructed in Brazilian colonial literature. [...] Mattoso merely attempts to add his name to a long list of renowned authors of erotic poetry, using the image of cross-dressing to represent intertextuality and ultimately appropriation of consecrated (albeit notorious) poetic voices to accomplish this task. Assuming the voice of literary precedents to re-imagine and re-acclimate their perspectives in a postmodern context is a strategy which contributes significantly to the performative nature of Mattoso's poetry, as evidenced in "Segundo Sonnetto Masochista." The allusions in this poem are, of course, to the erotic poetry of Gregorio de Mattos, Masoch's VENUS IN FURS, and finally Mattoso's own poetic voice. The interrelationships between Wanda, Gregorio, Glauco, and the Greek lover [...] (clearly what Mattoso meant by "o outro amante") are portrayed in the collage-like enmeshment occurring in the final two stanzas. Just as Gregorio replaces Severin and Glauco replaces Gregorio, these three male masochists are conceived as part of a unified personality; that is, many generations of masochists have preceded this unpretentious Brazilian one. The conventional role of the female sadist, Wanda, is, in fact, the only character that becomes transformed in this archetypal drama. Masoch's Wanda abandons Gregorio, and she undeniably violates the "contract" of abuse by designating another male to perform the role of sadist. This substitution makes a significant leap toward Mattoso's homoerotic appropriation of a nameless male sadist, "o sadico rapaz do qual appanho." The poem skillfully demonstrates Mattoso's equilibrium between an acknowledged adherence to literary traditions and a contemporary advertisement of samesex desire -- to achieve a queering of the sadomasochistic entries in the canon. Mattoso obviously believes that the male is capable of being both sadist and masochist. However, his

personal inclination, he reminds us repeatedly, is to assume the role of the latter. Mattoso undoubtedly recognizes the potential for transformation that the male masochist possesses. [0065] There are other poems in the collection which may be analyzed from the standpoint of anti-aestheticism, most notably "Sonnetto Descalço." [see 0019]

[0066] In addition to reinventing himself as a victim of a cruel and relentless disease, the poetic voice plays the role of clown and idiot, a degrading self-characterization reminiscent of the final poems of Portuguese modernist, Mario de Sa-Carneiro. Painfully aware that he is being mocked and ridiculed, the poetic voice dwells in narcissistic self-pity, perhaps in hopes of contracting a good sadist to repeatedly re-confirm his own inferiority. A self-consciousness of performing the role of clown is also evident in "Sonnetto Circense," where the poetic voice designates his blindness as grotesque, even carnivalesque: "Meu caso é certamente mais grottesco, / Ridicularizar-me vem a ser / a grande diversão de quem me vê, / emquanto eu, que não vejo, dou prazer."

[0070] [see 0027 and 0037]

[0073] [see 0026]

[0093] Because [Butterman's] thesis is concerned with performative aspects of Mattoso's poetic identities, it is important to look more closely at the labels often thrown around in order to arrive at a more specific conceptualization of fetishism, sadism, and masochism as individual as well as interdependent entities. This precision will allow us to contemplate whether or not fetishism is sadomasochistic in nature and, for our purposes, in Mattoso's sonnets. Most importantly, I will illustrate how Mattoso views S & M as a metaphor of selfhood and exploits fetishism to attain individuation and, ultimately, a profound sense of poetic and personal autonomy. Deleuze offers an interesting analogy when he equates the sadist's role as that of "instructor" and the masochist as "educator." While the differences may not appear significant on a superficial level, Deleuze convincingly argues that they are indeed vast. Essentially, he proposes that the sadist typically dictates actions while the masochist's chosen realm of influence is that of persuasion: {The sadist [...]

demonstrate[s] that reasoning itself is a form of violence, and that he is on the side of violence, however calm and logical he may be [...] In the work of Masoch [...] we are dealing instead with a victim in search of a torturer and who needs to educate, persuade and conclude an alliance with the torturer in order to realize the strangest of schemes. This is why advertisements are part of the language of masochism while they have no place in true sadism, and why the masochist draws up contracts while the sadist abominates and destroys them. The sadist is in need of institutions, the masochist of contractual relations.} The common misperception that the sadist is the perfect partner for the masochist and vice-versa is systematically destroyed in the analysis of Deleuze and other philosophers. Most recently, Anita Phillips' long essay, A DEFENCE OF MASOCHISM, abruptly maintains that "the masochist and the sadist are an impossible couple." Deleuze and Phillips hold many similar views, particularly with respect to sadism and the roles of the sadist; however, they are markedly different in their perceptions of the masochist. While Deleuze repeatedly argues that the masochist is speaking from -- and is, in fact, empowered by -- the standpoint of victim, Phillips believes the contrary, asserting that "the masochist is a conscious manipulator, not a victim." Phillips rather convincingly reveals that the masochist is often in charge, actively seeking punishment and pursuing partners who will faithfully fulfill that desire. In each of the scenarios she portrays, making specific references to Sade's ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DAYS OF SODOM and, more frequently, Masoch's VENUS IN FURS as well as alluding to personal experiences and interviews, Phillips never transcends the boundary of monogamous masochism; by her definition, the bonafide masochist will only make contractual agreements with one other person and for a specified time period. The rigidity implied in the periodicity and the prerequisite of contractual relations that resonates among both critics and proponents of sadomasochistic behaviors is reminiscent of the discussion of fetishism. [...] Deleuze's desperate attempts to undermine the illusion of "the sadomasochistic entity" result in a virtually endless list of dualities, a polarization between sadism and masochism whose rigidity itself reeks of reductionism and over-simplification. For example, when summarizing the most essential differences between sadism and masochism, Deleuze goes so far as to assert without further elaboration that "there is an aestheticism in masochism, while sadism is hostile to the aesthetic attitude."

What, frankly, is meant by the phrase "the aesthetic attitude"? Sadism and masochism may be linked or identified with differing aesthetic characteristics, but such a monolithic conception of THE aesthetic posture is just as disturbing and problematic as "THE sadomasochistic entity," the indiscriminate and careless combining of the two terms which Deleuze tries to deconstruct. On the other hand, Deleuze's efforts to highlight the separateness of sadism and masochism are admirable, for it is still quite rare to find a contemporary critic who is sensitive to discerning such differences. Paul Mann's overly simplistic definition provided in MASOCRITICISM is a case in point: "Masochism is primary sadism turned inward; sadism is primary masochism turned outward." In Mattoso's poetry, the roles and responsibilities of sadist and masochist are far more fluid in nature, as we shall see below in our discussion of three sonnets from CENTOPÉA: SONNETTOS NOJENTOS & QUEJANDOS. [see 0017, 0018, 0052, and 0117]

[0117] [see 0093 and 0541]

[0139] [see 0041]

[0234] [see 0026 and 0541]

[0355] [see 0020]

[0401] [see 0024]

[0500] [see 0027]

[0541] This sonnet reflects a baroque paradox that Mattoso's poetry sustains throughout. There are poems which fervently attempt to normalize alternate sexualities, and there are others which remain committed to preserving the romantic isolation and severe judgment of the bizarre perversity of fetishistic and sadomasochistic desires. One of the strengths of Mattoso's work falls in the tension he is able to maintain expressed by a conflicted poetic voice who clamors for acceptance as intensely as he asserts a radical distantiation of the self. [...] Mattoso's valorization of the necessity of tension itself is representative of his sustained contradiction between clamoring for acceptance and endorsing perversity, a motif I have attempted to address throughout [Butterman's] dissertation. This intentionally dramatized dilemma in Mattoso is at the core of his project, one which embraces ambiguity, irreconcilable

dualities, and perhaps most importantly, an escape from categorical definitions which would ultimately have the power to de(con)struct the author's development of transgressive themes. [0613] The following excerpts were taken from chapter four, {"Cagar é uma Licença Poetica": The Anti-Aesthetic Aesthete and "Turd World" Poetics in Glauco Mattoso} of Butterman's thesis, focusing on "Manifesto Coprophagico" and other scatological poems.

MANIFESTO COPROPHAGICO (I) [1977]

"Mierda que te quiero mierda" (García LOCA)

a merda na latrina daquelle bar da exquina tem cheiro de batina de botina de roptina de officina gazolina sabbatina e serpentina

bosta com vitamina cocô com cocaina merda de mordomia de propina de hemorrhoida e purpurina

merda de gente fina da rua francisca michelina da villa leopoldina de therezina de sancta catharina e da argentina

merda communitaria kosmopolita e clandestina merda metrica palindromica alexandrina

ó merda com teu mar de urina com teu céu de fedentina tu és meu continente terra fecunda onde germina minha independencia minha indisciplina

és advessa foste cagada da vagina da america latina

A merda na latrina desse bar da exquina de officina cheiro tem. De fina serpentina tem, tambem, si folga com roptina combinar.

Cocô com cocaina, em tal logar, commum é tanto quanto ter alguem cagado as hemorrhoidas. Alli vem o povo do Brazil todo cagar.

Cocô kosmopolita, palindromico, até kaleidoscopico e mutante, se caga no latino reino momico.

Vagina americana advessa, cante meu verso a merda metrica, com comico cynismo, e faça a antithese de Dante!

The poem begins with a pseudo-epigraph, "pseudo" because it consists of a subverted poetic verse appropriated by one of Mattoso's own heteronyms, the flamboyant Garcia Loca: "Mierda que te quiero mierda." The verse was excerpted, digested, and wasted from Garcia Lorca's famous "Romance Sonámbulo," "Verde que te quiero verde." An analysis of the last three letters of each verse reveals the repetition of "-ina," which resembles closely the word "rhyma," therefore satirizing an age-old convention of poetry. This poem exemplifies a natural progression, a "movement," so to speak, from the specific to the more general. The "Manifesto Coprophagico," quoted in its entirety, appears above.

The initial setting occurs in a dirty bathroom in a neighborhood bar or pub. The poem is a factory of olfactory sensation, for the waste deposited there contains the smells that are metaphorically associated with the identities of those who have left their mark, so to speak. For example, the scent of "botina" (boot) may represent a member of the Military Police, or perhaps some other uniformed public official; "roptina" may be indicative of a nine-to-five worker; "sabbatina," or schoolwork, implies that a diligent student has been to this

dirty bar and left a "piece" of herself; "serpentina," carnival decoration, is evidence that a "malandro" or a "carnavalesco" has contributed to the mass of cultural production. In other words, one may infer that a dirty public bathroom in a bar is an internationally democratic "melting-pot," one of the few places in the world where true diversity is upheld! Repugnantly, the poetic voice becomes more specific: "Bosta com vitamina / cocô com cocaina" -- the well-nourished, the drug-addict; "Merda de gente fina" -- the rich and beautiful. The process of generalization becomes more evident at this point, as the reader's journey continues out of the bar and onto an ordinary street, then a neighborhood, then a marginalized city (Therezina, the capital of Piauhy, a geographically large but politically marginalized state in the Northeast); then, another often-neglected state; and, finally, any country in Latin America (in the case of the poem, Argentina is selected, if for no other reason than to maintain the integrity of the simple and -- in stark contrast to the grotesque content within -- rather childlike musical rhyme). The dirty bathroom in an average bar defeats artificial borders and barriers, becoming a cross-cultural point of exchange for an entire continent. "Merda communitaria kosmopolita e clandestina" is a rather unconventional description of a city like São Paulo. On a macrocosmic level, and in cultural terms, São Paulo may be defined as just another dirty bathroom in a bar because the enormous concrete jungle is also a great melting-pot of races and immigrants, some of whom are illegal residents or living in exile from their native countries.

We finally arrive, then, at Mattoso's meta- (or shall we say merda-) poetic contention: "merda metrica palindromica alexandrina." "Why palindromic?" I asked the author during one of our interviews. His response was as follows: "Ué, porque o formato de um cocô começa ponctudo, augmenta, e depois termina ponctudo. Ou seja, de traz para frente, e de frente para traz, elle é um palindromo." In the final verses, the poem's configuration seems to be transformed into somewhat of an ode. The poet pays tribute to the turd, glorifying its life-giving properties: "Ó merda com teu mar de urina / com teu céu de fedentina / tu és meu continente terra fecunda onde germina." Any farmer would agree, with little or no contention, that manure is indeed the best fertilizer for the earth. What is also born from this life-giving magical substance called "merda"

is the very personal (and perhaps collective as well) "minha independencia minha indisciplina," alluding to the frustration and rebelliousness of the poetic voice -- there is no "high" or "elite" culture being devoured in these verses. This manifesto seems rather utopian in its democracy and egalitarianism. Shit has the same worth, regardless of the maker's class, race, social status, or whatever other defining characteristic. Interestingly, Mattoso recited this poem, in a solemn and patriotic tone, at the Sixth Annual Poetry Contest, hosted by the journal ESCRIPTA, in 1979, and while it generated considerable controversy, ended up winning first place. Rather than discounting the metaphor of coprophagy as merely humorous and in bad taste, I would like to explore philosophical and then psychoanalytic interpretations of fecality as they are relevant to a postmodern conception of literary production. In his illuminating article called, "The Metamorphosis of Shit," Martin Pops brilliantly traces the symbolism and archetype of defecation in Western philosophy and literature, from Sade to James Joyce to Freud to Baudelaire to Swift to Jean Genet, and many others. There are two statements from this article which bear quoting, since, re-thought or applied to a universal context of repression -- and, more specifically, Brazilian culture and society during military dictatorship -- they loom significant: "Shitting is the bodily archetype of spiritual rebirth insofar as it LIBERATES THE BODY FROM ITSELF." In the context of self-censorship and self-hatred (such as internalized homophobia), the metaphors of blockage and release are relevant. W.H. Auden in "Greatness Finding Itself" states: "Excretion is both the primal creative act -- every child is the mother of its own feces -- and the primal act of revolt and repudiation of the past -- what was once good food has become bad dirt and must be got rid of." Robert Coover goes so far as to claim that the real reason we look back to examine our own turds is to admire our own creative production -- he writes, "it's the closest we ever come to being at one with the gods."

While James Joyce identifies excretion as the "chamber music" of creativity, the Marquis de Sade, in THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DAYS OF SODOM, goes so far as to revere it: "THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM is an extraordinary exercise in coprophilia. Sadean libertines are connoisseurs of shit. They chew and savor and wallow in shit [...] They are 'worshippers' of shit who make a chapel into a privy, a rump into an altar, and the asshole of a victim the depository of a consecrated wafer."

Evaluating the performative subjectivity exemplified in the poetry of Glauco Mattoso [see 0028] reflects a striking similarity with Sigmund Freud's definition of the "anal character" that appears in CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS as well as Freud's 1908 essay on "Character and Anal Erotism," a disposition whose rebelliousness and eccentricity are the key traits that allow such a character to disrupt the social order of a repressive society that would otherwise seek to destroy his nonconformist personality. In CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS, Freud conceives anal retention as "a most remarkable strategy for the sublimation of a particular kind of subjectivity, that is, an original personality, which is still untamed by civilization and may thus become the basis [...] of hostility to civilization." Obstinacy, orderliness, and parsimony are specific characteristics that Freudian analysis attributes to this character type. It is interesting but not surprising to note that this document itself, now among Freud's most commonly cited presentations, "aroused considerable astonishment and indignation when it first appeared," according to Peter Gay, editor of THE FREUD READER.

Mattoso's insistence on eating the "cagada" is enhanced by his acknowledgment that the supposedly rejected remnants have the potential to provide a feast of difference, a veritable banquet of societally-rejected truths with which the author is attempting to re-nourish Brazilian, and by extension, postmodern consciousness.

[4140/4204] These twenty sonnets constitute the first part of the poetic novel RAYMUNDO CURUPYRA, O CAYPORA, published in 2012. According to the author's note, {In the native Brazilian mythology, Curupyra and Caypora are two feared characters. The Curupyra, described as a boy with inverted feet (heels pointing forward and toes pointing backwards), roams the woods mounted on a hog, scaring and confusing hunters. The Caypora, described as a hairy man, is also hostile to hunters and evil to the ones who see him. Fused into the same creature by some folklorists, I used them both to name my urban anti-hero who, tainted by a supernatural curse, or "cayporism", lives his adventures and misadventures with his equally jinxed friend, who defends and protects him against his misfortunes. It happens that, instead of fiction prose, I opted to narrate my novel in verse, chaining together two hundred sonnets, composed during the span of mere

two months. This deed called the attention of the literary circle, and received awards in Brazil. Thanks to the efforts of Rodrigo Bravo, an erudite teacher and skilled translator, the opportunity of recomposing this human and inhuman, perhaps superhuman, tragicomedy, conserving the petrarchian decassyllable (or iambic pentameter) and the rhyming pattern of the original, was made possible. This was done in order to offer this work to the anglophone public, whom I became closer with after Steven Butterman (professor in Miami) published a doctoral thesis on my poetry. I hope this translation contributes to a revaluation of the classic sonnet which, as Milton would before me (whom I compare myself to regarding the eyesight loss), I worshipped as a gift from the gods, or as a mystic antidote against the curse of blindness.}

Titles released by Smithouse:

A PLANTA DA DONZELLA ODE AO AEDO E OUTRAS BALLADAS INFINITILHOS EXCOLHIDOS MOLYSMOPHOBIA: POESIA NA PANDEMIA RHAPSODIAS HUMANAS INDISSONNETTIZAVEIS LIVRO DE RECLAMAÇÕES VICIO DE OFFICIO E OUTROS DISSONNETTOS MEMORIAS SENTIMENTAES, SENSUAES, SENSORIAES E SENSACIONAES GRAPHIA ENGARRAFADA HISTORIA DA CEGUEIRA INSPIRITISMO MUSAS ABUSADAS SADOMASOCHISMO: MODO DE USAR E ABUSAR DESCOMPROMETTIMENTO EM DISSONNETTO DESINFANTILISMO EM DISSONNETTO SEMANTICA QUANTICA INCONFESSIONARIO DISSONNETTOS DESABRIDOS SONNETTARIO SANITARIO DISSONNETTOS DESBOCCADOS RHYMAS DE HORROR DISSONNETTOS DESCABELLADOS NATUREBAS, ECOCHATOS E OUTROS CAUSÕES A LEI DE MURPHY SEGUNDO GLAUCO MATTOSO MANIFESTOS E PROTESTOS LYRA LATRINARIA DISSONNETTOS DYSFUNCCIONAES O CINEPHILO ECLECTICO A HISTORIA DO ROCK REESCRIPTA POR GM SCENA PUNK CANCIONEIRO CARIOCA E BRAZILEIRO CANCIONEIRO CIRANDEIRO

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