Translator and poet Ivan Junqueira dies at age 79.
The sixth occupant of Chair No. 37 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) died this Thursday, the 3rd, of respiratory failure at the Pró-Cardíaco Hospital in the southern zone of Rio; his poetry has already been translated into 13 languages.
Vinícius Lisboa - Reporter for Agência Brasil
The poet and translator Ivan Junqueira, sixth occupant of Chair No. 37 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), died today (3), at age 79, of respiratory failure, at the Pró-Cardíaco Hospital, in the south zone of Rio. Junqueira's body is already being laid in state in the Salão dos Poetas Românticos, in the Petit Trianon of the ABL, and will be taken to the Cemitério São João Batista, at 15 pm, to be buried in the institution's mausoleum.
The president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), Geraldo Holanda Cavalcanti, decreed three days of mourning, ordered that the academy's flag be flown at half-mast, and said that this is a great loss for the academy.
"Ivan enhanced the institution he served for 14 years with accuracy, competence, and dedication. A great poet, an undisputed master in the arts of critical essay writing and literary translation, Ivan leaves a legacy that enriches our tradition and the literary history of Brazil," says Cavalcanti in a statement announcing his death, published on the ABL website.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Ivan Junqueira was a professor of the history of philosophy and philosophy of nature at what was then the University of Brazil, now the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The writer also worked as a writer and sub-editor for major newspapers in Rio and was executive editor of the magazine Poesia Sempre, published by the National Library Foundation.
According to the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), Ivan Junqueira's poetry has been translated into 13 languages: Spanish, German, French, English, Italian, Danish, Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Provençal, Croatian, and Chinese. During a joint session of the ABL and the Académie Française in 2005, Junqueira received the institution's highest honor, the Richelieu Medal.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of his literary debut and what would have been his 80th birthday on November 3rd of this year, Editora Rocco is releasing the previously unpublished book of poems Essa música this month, and Reflexos do sol-posto, a collection of poems, in October. Editora Nova Fronteira has scheduled the paperback edition of Ivan Junqueira's award-winning translation of poems by the American poet T.S. Eliot.
Other works by Junqueira, such as O outro lado (poetry, Record) and Testamento de Pasárgada (Global), a critical anthology about Manuel Bandeira, are also expected to have new editions soon.
Ivan Junqueira had been hospitalized for a month and is survived by his wife, journalist and writer Cecília Costa Junqueira, with whom he had a son, Otávio. He also leaves behind four children from his first marriage: Suzana, Rafael, Raquel, and Eduardo.