Fernando pessoa, one of the founders of modernism, was born in lisbon in 1888. Fernando pessoa was born in lisbon into a wellestablished middleclass family on june 1888. Pasiferrari fernando pessoa and aleister crowley pessoa plural. Pessoa, fernando, 18881935, pessoa, fernando, 18881935 publisher. He returned to lisbon in 1905 and worked as a clerk in an importexport company until his death in 1935. The book of disquiet, written by fernando pessoa, a portuguese poet, is considered an early classic of existential writing. The first installation of the book of disquiet which includes the preface and notes 15 well, the first of what will likely be hundreds of installments. The critic harold bloom referred to him in the book the western canon as the most representative poet of the twentieth century, along with pablo neruda.
For its entire four hundred plus pages it offers a philosophy of a melancholic life, a philosophy of dreaming, and a philosophy of art. In fact, the book stayed with pessoa himself, discovered after his death in a trunk full of thousands of unpublished pages and not. Quote i know, i alone poem love is essential poem no intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it. The narrator, perhaps a standin for pessoa himself, is clearly a distant literary relative of shakespeares hamlet or eliots prufrock. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who introduced it as a factless autobiography. Fernando antonio nogueira pessoa was a poet and writer. If you read this, you need to know what you are signing up for, so, below, ill let pessoa speak for himself. Fernando pessoa s most popular book is the book of disquiet. I recognized pessoa instantly from the first few fragments of his life in b of d. Was 18 march 1914 the most extraordinary date in modern literature. Illustration by riccardo vecchio if ever there was a writer in flight from his name, it was fernando pessoa. His father died when he was five and two years later his mother married the portuguese consul in durban. He grew up in durban, south africa, where his stepfather was portuguese consul.
Do people in portugal read books by fernando pessoa. This perpetually unclassifiable and unfinished book of selfreflective fragments was first published in portuguese in 1982, and it is arguably pessoas masterpiece. I cant remember ever having been so disappointed to see a book come to an end. Four previous english translations, all published in 1991, were compromised either by abridgement, poor translation or errorladen source texts. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa is one such modern masterpiece that i read last week. A selfdeprecating reflection on the sheer distance between the loftiness of feelings and the humdrum reality of life, the book of disquiet is a classic of existentialist literature. Talreja dr, edwards wd, danielson gk, schaff hv, tajik aj, tazelaar hd, et al. I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tamboura i sound and clash inside myself. Im always speaking banally to someone, with a contrived smile on my face.
A little fraction of fernando pessoa portfolio is part of our high school curriculum. He also wrote in and translated from english and french. The book of disquiet first came out in portugal in. The book of disquiet was found, in fragments, only after pessoas death. A modernist masterwork that has now taken on a similar iconic status to ulysses, the trial or in search of lost time, fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is edited and translated with an introduction by richard zenith in penguin modern classics. Most of pessoas writing was not published during his lifetime. It is sometimes said that the four greatest portuguese poets of modern times are fernando pessoa. Born and raised in portugal, i confirm what miguel oliveira said. Pessoas poetry is best left untranslated, as is all poetry from other languages. The heteronyms launch movements and write manifestos, and one of them attempts to break up pessoas only known. It is a journey of the spirit through the material world and, since it is the spirit that travels. Pessoa, fernando article about pessoa, fernando by the.
Fernando pessoa 18881935 was born in lisbon and brought up in durban, south africa. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Disquiet refers to a feeling of anxiety, and this story has plenty of unease for both its narrator and readers. Its text is similar to zeniths but much abbreviated. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics ebook. Fernando pessoa is currently considered a single author. Fernando pessoa primary author only author division. I implore you to read this immortal literary work of genius by pessoa. Ah, its my longing for whom i might have been that distracts and torments me. Uvadare digital academic repository fernando pessoa. Apicapic in the book of disquiet, bernardo soares, an assistant bookkeeper in a lisbon fabrics. As a mysticist, pessoa was an enthusiast of esotericism, occultism, hermetism, numerology and alchemy. Fernando pessoa books list of books by author fernando.
Im always out in the evenings doing something, the purpose of which eludes me. The book of disquiet stays with you, doesnt want to be consumed all in a rush, and is unlike any other book youll ever read. Quote to feel today what one felt yesterday isnt to. The first publication of the book was in 1982, nearly fifty years after pessoas death. Fernando pessoas most popular book is the book of disquiet. Along with spiritualism and astrology, he also paid attention to neopaganism, theosophy, rosicrucianism and freemasonry, which strongly influenced his literary work. This book provides ample evidence of his fruitful, lifelong relationship with the english language. If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics 30may2002. The book of disquiet by chad literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life. Books by fernando pessoa author of the book of disquiet. Its a series of vignettes, random thoughts and meditations all written between 19 and 1935. By bernardo soares, assistant bookkeeper in the city of lisbon.
As she passes poem at first, its unfamiliar, then it strikes root. Pessoa spent the formative years of his youth in south africa and was educated in the local schools where he received a thorough grounding in. The only book that we almost entirely read during that time is mensagem message. Livro do dessassogego por bernardo soares, 1982 the book of disquiet trans. Fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is aptly titled. Fernando pessoa quotes author of the book of disquiet. Fernando pessoa vida e obra by daniela filipe on prezi. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, paperback. The concept was repopularized in the twentieth century with the publication of mensagem by fernando pessoa in 1934. Ive been drawn to existentialism which i understand to be the recognition that life lacks meaning, rendering the human condition a function of mere existence since reading sartre, camus and kierkegaard years ago.
A newly published english translation, by margaret jull costa, is called the book of disquiet. November 30, 1935 in the same city was a portuguese poet and writer. The book is an aggregation of disparate diary entries that are abstract, dense, and at times, eccentric. Fernando pessoa has 736 books on goodreads with 163055 ratings. He moved to durban, south africa, as a child, becoming bilingual portuguese, english. One represents pessoas side, and it remained in the hands. A prolific writer, ascribing his work to a variety of personas or heteronyms, pessoa published little in his lifetime and supported himself by working as a commercial translator. Imagination, reality and the pleasure of masking and dreaming rodica grigore1 the portuguese writer fernando pessoa complicates the idea of fictionality, by underscoring the fact that the personality of soares the fictional author of the book of disquiet is neither his own nor com.
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