Ten years ago, the collection of books and documents belonging to the philosopher, professor, and translator Fausto Castilho (1929-2015) gained a dedicated space in the Rare Books Library (Bora) at Unicamp, which bears his name. The collection of 11 volumes underwent page-by-page cleaning and was classified and cataloged by subject, a task that extended from 2016 to 2022. Today, the collection, which occupies an area on the ground floor of the library, attracts researchers from Brazil and abroad in search of its treasures.
Bora librarian Isabella Nascimento Pereira, who was part of the committee that received the collection, explains that the volumes are arranged on the original shelves that belonged to Castilho. His desk and a collection of documents and photographs are also present. “Fausto Castilho negotiated the donation of the collection while he was alive, which is not very common. The books were arranged according to his personal organization, and our first action was to make a list of everything he didn't have,” she adds.
Philosopher Alexandre Guimarães Tadeu de Soares, who was his student at Unicamp and is now the executive president of the Fausto Castilho Foundation, whose honorary president is his widow, Carmen Castilho, emphasizes that visiting the collection is both enjoyable and formative. “The path depends a lot on each person's background, but a good starting point is the editorial collection itself, which offers a roadmap of the author's thought. A visit to the library is marked by encounters with books that call to us, summon us, and lead us to discoveries,” he states.
For Soares, it's important that visitors allow themselves to be surprised by the books, the shelves, and the unexpected encounters. “This almost magical experience of discovery is something only a physical library can provide. The collection has a strong core in philosophy, but it also includes fundamental works from the humanities,” he adds.
The foundation's president emphasizes that Castilho's personal library was, in fact, his laboratory. "He spent hours preparing courses, translating texts, and writing, always making notes in the books. It's impressive to see how they were worked on, appropriated, and transformed by continuous study. This gives the library a unique intellectual value."
Today, the Fausto Castilho Foundation operates along three main lines. “The first is publishing, supporting publications, especially translations and bilingual editions, starting with the Unicamp Press itself and the Fausto Castilho collection, but also in partnership with other publishers and research centers. The second line is supporting partner institutions, such as Bora, for example. The third line is supporting academic events, such as colloquia, congresses, short courses, and conferences, including national and international philosophy meetings,” adds Soares.
Concept of university
The architecture of Unicamp owes much to Castilho. "A curious feature in the library is a blackboard with a drawing of what would become the layout of Unicamp, made by him," highlights the librarian. The urban layout of its main campus, in the Barão Geraldo district of Campinas, has a radial configuration, with a large central square, the Basic Cycle, from which concentric circular paths lead to its basic science institutes – mathematics, biology, philosophy, arts, physics. And, in the outermost circle, the applied science units, such as engineering and medicine.
According to Soares, this concept originates from an earlier project, interrupted by the military coup, but resumed when Castilho was invited by Zeferino Vaz, founder of Unicamp, to organize the humanities area of the University. “This is recorded in a book produced from an interview he gave me, entitled 'The concept of university in the Unicamp project', in which he discusses the project and the idea of a modern university. This reflection materialized in the very design of the radial campus.”
Professor Emeritus at Unicamp, Castilho, considered one of the greatest experts on the work of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), from whom he was a student, translated "Being and Time" into Portuguese, the first bilingual edition of the work. "Without a doubt, one of his great legacies was his translations. To translate Heidegger's work, he used several editions of the book, which are in the collection, full of annotations," the librarian points out.
“According to Fausto himself, this work took more than 50 years to complete. It was not merely a technical translation, but a profound process of study and reflection. Each sentence contained a thesis, a line of thought, and the text underwent numerous revisions. Today, we have final records of this process, which are extremely valuable,” adds Soares, who highlights the philosopher's intense dedication to translation. “He understood it as a method of appropriating philosophical thought. He published several translations through the Unicamp Press and organized the collection that now bears his name, composed of two series, one of them dedicated to bilingual translations.”
The collection can be consulted for research by appointment, as the works cannot be borrowed. Bora is open Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 17 pm. More information on the website. https://bora.unicamp.br/
Philosophical restlessness
Ricardo Lima, journalist and editorial coordinator at Editora da Unicamp, is the author of the biography "O pensador inquieto" (CMU Publicações, 2024), which chronicles moments and achievements of Castilho, such as his education at the Sorbonne University in Paris, alongside leading figures in philosophy, and his adventure in promoting a Jean-Paul Sartre conference in the interior of São Paulo state.
“I knew Fausto and listened to his stories when he coordinated the launch of two collections at the publishing house. I launched the biography of Professor André Tosello (1914-1982), founder of the Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA) at Unicamp, and ended up being invited to write his biography as well, which was launched in 2024 by the Unicamp Memory Center,” he says.
Castilho, who was born in Cambará, in northern Paraná, came from a family of prosperous farmers. He studied in São Paulo, at the Franco-Brazilian Lyceum (now the Pasteur Lyceum), where he had his first contact with philosophy through a class on Plato's "Seventh Letter". In 1948, he went to study at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he had the opportunity to study 20th-century French philosophy with some of its great names. One of his teachers, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, encouraged him to broaden his education, and he went to the University of Freiburg, in southwestern Germany, to take a course that would be taught by Heidegger.
In 1960, Castilho arranged for Sartre and his partner, the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, to visit Araraquara (SP). At the time, he was a professor at the then Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters (FFCL) of Araraquara – now a unit of the São Paulo State University (Unesp) – where he created the chair of philosophy. Sartre and Beauvoir attended congresses, conferences, receptions, and book launches, and gave interviews to newspapers and TV stations.
During this busy schedule, Castilho had the opportunity to question the Frenchman about his ideas, and Sartre responded in the form of a lecture, given at the FFCL on September 4th of that year. The event marked a milestone in the history of philosophy in Brazil, and its recent publication by Editora Unesp, under the title "Sartre in Brazil: The Araraquara Conference," has allowed more people to access his thought.
Seven years later, at the invitation of Zeferino Vaz, Castilho joined the group of notable figures in charge of creating Unicamp. “Fausto arrived at Unicamp with many privileges because Zeferino Vaz knew that it was necessary to have important people to form the University we have today,” recalls Lima. Based on records from the time and on Eustáquio Gomes' narrative in “O Mandarim – História da Infância da Unicamp” (Unicamp Press, 2006), the biographer shows that the friction between Castilho and Vaz led to his departure from the project in 1972. But the philosopher returned to Unicamp in 1985 as a professor.
Soares, who was his student during his undergraduate and graduate studies in Philosophy between the late 1980s and early 2000s, describes him as an "extremely remarkable professor" and emphasizes that it was enriching to listen to him in his classes and the courses he taught.
“Fausto had a profound knowledge of the subjects he addressed and, at the same time, conveyed the feeling that we were listening to a philosopher in deep reflection, someone passionate about thought, driven by emotions and convictions. This deeply affected those who listened to him. His classes, lectures, and interventions—often controversial—enchanted and mobilized students. He enjoyed debate and often filled auditoriums.”
