Another of IELT’s outstanding figures left us yesterday. Essayist, poet, playwright, novelist, translator, critic, director of prestigious literary journals (Tabacaria, Colóquio-Letras), cultural ambassador in Paris, university lecturer, there will always be a lack of words to describe the richness of Nuno Júdice’s career.

In 2002, he was a founding member of the Institute for the Study of Traditional Literature, and played an important role in its re-founding in 2015 when, bringing together the Laboratory for Advanced Literary Studies and the Centre for Studies on the Literary Imaginary (directed by his long-time friend Helder Godinho, who died in 2020), IELT became the Institute for the Study of Literature and Tradition.

Literature and literary criticism have lost one of their most important voices. IELT is grateful for the many contributions it has received and pays a heartfelt tribute to Nuno Júdice and extends deep condolences to his family.

De um e outro lado do que sou,
da luz e da obscuridade,
do ouro e do pó,
ouço pedirem-me que escolha;
e deixe para trás a inquietação,
a dor,
um peso de não sei que ansiedade. 

Mas levo comigo tudo
o que recuso. Sinto
colar-se-me às costas
um resto de noite;
e não sei voltar-me
para a frente, onde
amanhece. 

«Confissão», in Meditação sobre Ruínas, 1994.