Guimarães Rosa Excerpt

Level: Advanced
Topic: A famous excerpt from the expressive prose of Guimarães Rosa

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Reading

Tohvi ca semtelaum, caora o nim doum siyal e damura-ora. Ca nim i anidai su anidaium, yadetum oimel. A jenparo apasoi de elemi i pomia-tohbian e neloa. I pohem su i lufiva, i tourou su notor i anefene, i elonor-anelem su i anivari-elori. O e ca i anidai de nima, angi. Elhay i anidai o i vardei ca nima i roesau i do i neron-oila-davio, en jenrein oila, su neronron oila en jenrein tohpu. Netam noi, tonan, en anidai litegai, anidai non, anja angi… ilie? O noi nepar lirul i iliroar. Cali a litam i ansau no luyar.

from Grande Sertão Veredas

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Tips

ando = can, be able
anefene = rest
angi = courage, dare, bold
anidai = want, desire
anivari = return, come back
anja = by means of, using, instrument
ansau = start, begin
apasoi = hurry, rush
ca = that, which
caora = because
cali = when
damura = meaning
de = of, from
Elhay = the divine
elemi = live, life
elonor = calm, peace
elori = act, active, behavior
ilie = maybe, perhaps
iliro = think
jenparo = front, forward
jenrein = middle, midst, within
litam = day
litegai = moment, minute
lirul = habitually
lufiva = cold
luyar = light
neloa = all, everything
nepar = 3/10
neron = more
netam = first, only
no = like, as
noi = here, now, this
non = way, manner
notor = then, second event
oimel = story, tale
ora = idea, reason
pohem = warm, hot
pomia = mixture, mix
roesau = learn, study
semtela = organize
siyal = find, notice
su = and, with, also
tohbian = confusion
tohvi = internal feeling, emotion
tonan = suddenly
tourou = tense, stress, squeeze
vardei = see, look
yadetu = end, final

Original

Original

Original Portuguese: "Sentimento que não espairo; pois eu mesmo nem acerto com o mote disso — o que queria e o que não queria, estória sem final. O correr da vida embrulha tudo, a vida é assim: esquenta e esfria, aperta e daí afrouxa, sossega e depois desinquieta. O que ela quer da gente é coragem. O que Deus quer é ver a gente aprendendo a ser capaz de ficar alegre a mais, no meio da alegria, e inda mais alegre ainda no meio da tristeza! Só assim de repente, na horinha em que se quer, de propósito — por coragem. Será? Era o que eu às vezes achava. Ao clarear do dia."

A feeling I cannot dispel; for I myself cannot grasp the theme of it — what I wanted and what I did not want, a story with no ending. The onward rush of life jumbles everything. It heats up and cools down, it tightens and then loosens, it settles and later unsettles. What it wants from us is courage. What God wants is to see us learning to be able to become more joyful, in the midst of joy, and even more joyful in the midst of sorrow. Only so, suddenly, in the time you want, purposefully, through courage… Maybe? This is what I sometimes thought. At dawn.

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Commentary

tohvi, o nim doum siyal, damura-ora
Tohvi places the feeling inside and embodied (not only to or toh, but joined with the internal body, vi). Then o nim doum siyal: the focus marker lands on nim, making the failure to understand personal.

a jenparo apasoi de elemi i pomia-tohbian e neloa. i pohem su i lufiva, i tourou su notor i anefene, i elonor-anelem su i anivari-elori
Three extra layers of movement embody meaning through these sentences at once. The first is a movement of PO-LU: pomia (PO — substance, material) opens the first clause anchored in concreteness; by the next clause, lufiva (LU — atmosphere, the open sky) shifts it into expansion. The second arc is emotional: the passage starts at the TO cluster (tohbian, tourou) and ends at EL (elonor, elori). The suffering cluster gives way to elevation, moving from an internal-focused mental state to a realization of this suffering as a larger, elevated wonder about life. The final movement is the AN subcluster: from EL-ANE holding still to ANI-EL returning to active, creating a complete circle in both meaning and form.

o e ca i anidai de nima, angi
The construction starting with the o marker emphasis the demand, not the answer. By the time angi lands, it has been anticipated and weighted, so courage is a matter-of-fact, trivial answer. This is a different way to mirror Rosa's delivery: "é coragem".

anidai, anidaium — o e ca i anidai de nima — Elhay i anidai — en anidai litegai, anidai non
anidai (want, desire) runs through almost every sentence of the passage. Rosa's paragraph is about wanting: the confusion of not knowing what you want, what life demands of us, what God wants, the moment of willing. Rather than scattering different words across these moments, holding anidai as the spine gives it unshattered focus and weight.

neron-oila-davio... neronron oila en jenrein tohpu
Rosa's escalation ("alegre a mais, e inda mais alegre ainda") is mirrored morphologically. First a three-part cascade: neron-oila-davio, more-joy-become. Then neron itself doubles into neronron.

cali a litam i ansau no luyar
The day is the subject and it begins, as light. The day itself acts, and the character is watching it unfold. This ending portrays the beauty of the sunrise, but contrasts the inevitability of the phenomenon and the passivity of the watcher with the central theme of the necessity of desire and courage in order to create happiness.

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