Chrys Chrystello Memory and Worldview

Victor Rui Dores

A knight errant for love of literature, J. Chrys Chrystello – former journalist and educator, researcher, chronicler, poet, translator, editor and promoter of the Colóquios da Lusofonia – continues to write from the eyes of memory.

His patience, with the extensive training and willpower he possesses, simply flourishes when put in service to a cause in which he believes. Such is the case with his monumental two-volume Bibliografia Geral da Açorianidade (Letras Lavadas, 2017), the result of a broad, thoughtful and extensive bibliographic survey (19,500 entries) this Luso-Australian conducted over seven years that affords conclusive proof of no less than editorial strength and an indisputable Azorean cultural identity.

I have just read two of this author’s books: one of crónicas, Liames e Epifanias Autobiográficas [Autobiographical Bonds and Epiphanies], ChrónicAçores V (19492005), a Circum-Navegação; the other of memoirs, Alumbramento: Crónicas do Éden [Illumination: Chronicles from Eden], ChrónicAçores VI (2005-2021), uma Circum-Navegação (2005-2021) (both from Letras Lavadas, 2022).

To speak of Chrys Chrystello is to speak of a participatory citizen, a liberated and forthright thinker, a restless and restive spirit, a discomforted and discomforting voice – and above all, a man of worldview and multiculturalism, an avatar of good taste, scientific knowledge and patience. His good taste is born of the love he has long dedicated to the Azores and its literature. His scientific knowledge is the fruit of a lifetime dedicated to research.

Moreover, Chrys Chrystello had already given a good account of himself with the publication of other works: ChronicAçores: Uma Circum-Navegação de Timor a Macau, Austrália, Brasil, Bragança até aos Açores (Calendário de Letras, 2011); and, Crónica do Quotidiano Inútil [Chronicle of Useless Daily Life] (Calendário de Letras, 2012), in a revised and enlarged second edition of the same title but now with the added subtitle Fifty Years of Literary Life (Letras Lavadas, 2022), which gathers his poetic texts –poesy of the real, militant and combative that denounces illusory truths and renounces the masks of an alienating daily life.

But it is about the two books cited in the second paragraph of this piece that I propose to weave a few brief threads here.

In both volumes Chrystello, an indefatigable observer of what goes on around him, transforms moments of reality into narrative material.

Feeling the weariness of time and triggering the retroactive effects of memory the author summons, invokes and evokes people, places, things and remarkable events that populate his imagination – that is to say, everything hanging around in his telluric memory. He recollects geographic locations that stir his emotions: Porto, Trás-os-Montes, Bragança, Timor, Bali, Australia, Macau, the Middle East, Brazil and the Azores. Recalls unforgettable trips. Attentively and shrewdly observes and ironizes reality. Produces social and political criticism. Navigates dreams and utopias. Disdains the new mythologies of “useless daily life.” Fights for freedom and social justice. Defends the Portuguese language, polyglot though he is. Engages in dialogues with poets and writers. Casts glances on books and art works. Celebrates life and friendship. Questions humanity’s destiny on the world stage. Worries about the misfortunes of others. And above all, reflects on the human condition.

We are in the presence of two books of evocative depth and breadth, because they are records written from memory. Especially in Liames e Epifanias Autobiográficas, the author analyzes in detail some of the experiences he has lived, felt, dreamed and evoked. And, as a vernacular prose writer who strives to cultivate the language of Camões, he writes with discursive rhythm and narrative fluency. From Lomba da Maia, São Miguel – today the locus of his microcosm – out into the wide world.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: Chrys Chrystello’s next book will be 9 Poemas, TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: Chrys Chrystello’s next book will be 9 Poemas, 9 Línguas [Nine Poems, Nine Languages], published by Letras Lavadas – an anthology of works by nine contemporary Portuguese-language poets (including Eduíno de Jesus and Álamo Oliveira), plus renderings by eight translators into French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Romanian, Slovenian, Polish and English.

dos dias e das andanças por lugares que lhe ficaram a constituir marcos nas suas experiências de viagem e nas reflexões delas decorrentes.