>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington DC.
>> MARGARET KRUESI: Hi.
My name is Margaret Kruesi.
I'm a cataloger and folklorist here
at the American Folklife Center
and we're going to look at some
of our Literatura de
Cordel collections.
Cordel are pamphlets,
literature, chap book literature
that is a purely popular literature.
They are often illustrated
by woodcuts.
We have a wood block
here to look at too.
And one of the most
famous Cordelistas or poets
and wood cut artist is Jose Borges
and three of these are his work.
>> JUAN FELIPE HERRERA: So,
they call the poets Cordelistas?
>> MK: Cordelistas, yes.
>> JFH: Oh, well if you don't do
Cordel, you're not a Cordelista.
But they're known as poets?
>> MK: They are poets.
There's a very specific poetic
form and you can see the stanzas.
>> JFH: So, it does have
a particular form to it.
>> MK: It has a very definite form.
And they also sing these
in the marketplace.
They can be both poems and songs.
>> JFH: So, there's a
poet who is a singer
and a chapbook artist, a Cordelista.
>> MK: And a publisher.
They publish their own work.
So, it's truly a folk tradition.
And they compete with one another.
They have competitions.
>> JFH: And there's an audience.
>> MK: Yes, there's an audience.
It's called Literatura de Cordel
because the cordel is a string
and these are usually displayed
in the marketplace as literature
that literally hangs from a string.
>> JFH: And this work here?
>> MK: This is from a series
about the crucifixion of Christ.
So some of the themes are secular.
Others are very religious.
A lot of them honor local
saints and this one is
about Christ coming
before Pontias Pilate.
>> JFH: This is very big.
Because the Cordelistas are artists.
They have their own community.
They do art with wood block.
And they're out in the mercados, the
marketplaces and people come to them
for these materials,
for the chapbooks.
And they also respond
to what's going on
and they also honor the city
religiously or the town.
That's a big role.
Are they seen like that?
Are they seen as major
figures in their town?
>> MK: There's a revival
in this type of literature.
Right now it's moving into the
internet and they're selling CDs.
There's a lot of interest
in the form and moving it
into a totally new
modern direction as well.
So some of the people that are
doing it now are actually big names.
And then of course, Borges is a very
big name because of the simplicity
and the directness of these
illustrations that he made
and the political astuteness
of them.
So, he didn't start
out as a big name,
but by the time the
year 1999 came around
and the Library was celebrating its
200th anniversary, the government
of Brazil decided to give a
gift to the Library of Congress.
All countries around the world were
giving special anniversary gifts
to the Library and the gift
that Brazil gave was a set
of woodblock cuts by Borges
which is one of these here.
So, these were full color,
beautiful works of art.
You know, you have here
the chapbook, cheap book,
and you have here, this
great piece of art.
This tells a story about the crime
of deforestation of
the Amazon in Brazil.
>> JFH: That's pretty amazing
because there's commentary,
poetry about what's going on
and the politics of the city,
the religious layers of the place,
and then there's talking
about the rainforest.
So, it's local, it's kind
of regional, environmental
and political and poetry.
>> MK: And poetry.
>> JFH: [laughter]
And the woodblock.
Is that a machine or what?
>> MK: It's all hand.
You can take a close look.
Someone did cut that out by hand.
>> JFH: I'm really
inspired by all this.
Chapbooks have always been
something that all poets want to do.
It's kind of like a requirement.
And it's kind of beginning to
fade away because of the software,
the digital age and all that.
But still, I think it's still
a requirement to do a chapbook.
Otherwise you missed
probably about 80 percent
of what it means to be a poet.
Because you have to create
your own stuff, right?
>> MK: Our large collection of
Cordel is over 10, 000 items
and this particular collection
that these are from is
about 300 Cordel plus
these woodblocks.
We don't collect the woodblocks.
It would just happen to be that
the collector of these materials,
Sol Bederman who is one of the
originators of our Cordel collection
for the library which
originated in the Rio office.
He provided the impetus
to start collecting Cordel
and he did his own
research on this subject
and also donated his own
materials to the Library as well.
>> JFH: It's beautiful.
I love this kind of work, chap
books and little mini magazines
because I don't think we have
chapbook poets that do this.
>> MK: Well not all of
these poets do art either.
Sometimes they have a team
where one person does the art
or one person specializes in art and
the other person does the poetry.
>> JFH: That's also unusual
for us in the United States.
Usually we work together
but when we do our work
of art it's usually solo.
So, to work together on something
like this is most interesting
and we can learn a lot
from the Cordelistas.
So, we can start a new
Cordelista movement.
[laughter] and you're going
to be the head of it, ok?
I'll just scribble stuff and
then you put it all together
and you organize the community.
>> MK: No, I think the poet
makes the poetry [laughter].
>> JFH: And then you get
to teach Portuguese, ok?
>> MK: You get to teach
this special form
of the stanzas and
the way they work.
You'll have to learn all that.
>> JFH: I'll have stay
here and learn it.
>> MK: You'll have to
stay at least a year.
>> JFH: It's a deal.
>> MK: Alright, it's
a deal [laughter]
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.