Torquato Neto: “Começa na lua cheia e termina antes do fim"

Abstract

This paper intends to examine three phases of Torquato Neto’s work as a poet and songwriter. It aims to emphasize the dramatic changes throughout his artistic career, which related to aesthetic, existential and political changes in Brazil. At first, during the sixties, he sang according to a nationalistic and folk stream. Afterwards, at the turn of the seventies, he became close to the Tropicália approach to art. Finally, at the beginning of the new decade, the poet takes another stand towards his writings, due to his confrontation towards the country’s process of historic transformation. In the end, he cannot leave his origins, coming back to them in a traumatic way.