BASIC

Barbosa’s theoretical-practical trilogy closes with Máquinas Pensantes: Aforismos Gerados por Computador [Thinking Machines: Computer-Generated Aphorisms] (1988), as it can be understood as the third volume of A Literatura Cibernética. Here, the author presents a long series of literary aphorisms, in which the generation of texts is said to be “computer-assisted” (Computer-Assisted Literature) in BASIC language. The “A” series (Re-text program) deals with combinatorial “re-textualizações” [re-textualizations] (1988: 59) of a fragment (“matrix-text”) by Nietzsche and the “B” series (Acaso program), which had been partially published in the Jornal de Notícias (1984), draws upon the conceptual model created by Melo e Castro’s poem “Tudo Pode Ser Dito Num Poema” [Everything Can Be Said in a Poem], included in Álea e Vazio [Chance and Void] (1971). Melo e Castro himself would write an early review on the aphorisms, in the Colóquio Letras (1986) literary magazine, revealing Barbosa’s outputs as undeniable literary productions. Finally, the “C” series (Afor-A and Afor-B programs) comprises reformulations of traditional Portuguese aphorisms, which result in new interpretations, sometimes ironic, sometimes surreal.

(Source: Author's text)

Pedro Barbosa recalls in this interview his memories of the first studies and works of electronic literature back in the 1970s when he was a student at the University of Porto. Starting from considerations about his collaborative works he makes a comparison between printed literature tradition and the age of new media focusing on the paradigmatic change of this very transitional period with live in and the differences of the creative work. Furthermore he makes an interesting statement on regard of the aesthetics of new media by comparing works of electronic literature with the oral tradition. In the end he mentions some of the milestones of electronic literature that he considers important.

"Infopoesia ou Poesia Informacional" [Infopoetry or Informational Poetry] was published on October 29, 1987, in the Diário de Lisboa, in the supplement “Ler Escrever.”

This benchmark article helped defining the state-of-the-art of “computational poetry,” by exposing the 1960s creative threads in the works by Nanni Balestrini, Herberto Helder, Margaret Masterman and Marc Adrian, and by additionally introducing new Portuguese and Brazilian authors, such as Pedro Barbosa, Silvestre Pestana, Antero de Alda, Erthos Albino de Souza and João Coelho. Furthermore, it disseminated for a general audience the relevance of computational programming in literary creation, by stressing that, for some authors, “a própria programação [é] o acto de criação poética por excelência, sendo o programa um poema” [the very programming (is) the act of poetic creation par excellence, being the program a poem], which facilitates different outputs.

[Source: Álvaro Seiça, "A Luminous Beam: Reading the Portuguese Electronic Literature Collection" (2015)]