Im always speaking banally to someone, with a contrived smile on my face. The book of disquietude is the factless autobiography of bernardo soares, one of the 72 literary personae with which portugals greatest poet fernando pessoa 18881935 created the theater of himself. For the first timeand in the best translation everthe complete book of disquiet, a masterpiece beyond comparison. Conceived in 1916, soares is, pessoa declared, amutilation of his own personality.
P ortuguese poet fernando pessoa 18881935 was the most prominent modernist literary figure in 20th century portugal, where he was associated with avantgarde literary circles, magazines, and small press publications in his poetry, pessoa announced modernist themes. Pessoa is the exemplary poet of the self as other, of the poem as testament to unreality, proclamation of nothingness, occasion for expectancy. The book of disquiet,the even greater, ultimate charm of being innocent. Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life. 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. The book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoas greatest literary achievement. I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tamboura i sound and clash inside myself. Mark strand fernando pessoa is portugals most important contemporary poet. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics english edition. From what i understand this book is a collection of prose snippets from over 40 years that were compiled after the portuguese poets death.
Where guedes imagines himself a gifted dreamer trapped in. The book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoas. The washington post book world has written that fernando pessoa was portugals greatest writer of the twentieth century though some critics would even leave off that last qualifying phrase and one of the most appealing european modernists, equal in command and range to his contemporaries rilke and mandelstam. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg.
Now, for the first time the texts are presented chronologically, in a complete english edition by master translator. When he died in 1935, pessoa left behind a trunk filled with unfinished and unpublished writings, among which were the remarkable pages that make up his posthumous masterpiece, the book of disquiet, an astonishing work that, in george steiners words, gives to lisbon the haunting spell of joyces dublin or kafkas prague. Book of disquiet reveals a reclusive authors soul author fernando pessoa may have been a loner who lived most of his life in a single room in lisbon, portugal. Posts about fernando pessoa written by doronklemer.
I failed life even before i had lived it, because even as i dreamed it, i failed to see its. In these random impressions, with no desire to be other than random, i indifferently narrate my factless autobiography, my lifeless history. He wrote of holding inside himself all the dreams of the world and wanting to experience the whole of the universe its reality inside himself. Full text of fernando pessoa as english reader and writer see other formats. The book of disquiet penguin classics pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard, zenith, richard on. Buy the selected prose of fernando pessoa reprint by pessoa, fernando, zenith, translator richard isbn. As for guedes, pessoa opens, this book is not by him, it is him. Buy the book of disquiet penguin modern classics new ed by pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard isbn. Like im sick of everything, and of the everythingness of everything. It is written by character senhor soares, who is assumed to be an alter ego for pessoa. This fragmentary novel was published 47 years after the death of 20thcentury portuguese author and poet fernando pessoa. The book of disquietude aspects of portugal paperback december 1, 1996 by fernando pessoa author 5. See all 7 formats and editions hide other formats and editions.
Fernando pessoa, one of the founders of modernism, was born in lisbon in 1888. Imagination, reality and the pleasure of masking and dreaming article in theory in action 41. The book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa is one such modern masterpiece that i read last week. A prolific writer, ascribing his work to a variety of personas or heteronyms, pessoa published little in his lifetime and. Mensagem message by fernando pessoa english version. Fernando pessoa and the book of disquiet others can write better, and truer, things about fernando pessoa than i can, but the salient facts for these purposes are that pessoa 18881935 was a portuguese writer who published very little during his lifetime. November 30, 1935 in the same city was a portuguese poet and writer. 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. Was 18 march 1914 the most extraordinary date in modern literature.
Livro do desassossego the book of disquiet, fernando pessoa the book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 18881935. Pessoas book does give few concrete facts about the writer or the world of the writer. If all this sounds rather vague then that is because pessoa wished it so. The selected prose of fernando pessoa fernando pessoa. 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. By bernardo soares, assistant bookkeeper in the city of lisbon. Perhaps the most occult writer of the twentieth century and the one who best lived up to rimbauds dictum about becoming a medium was fernando pessoa. In lisbon there are a few restaurants or eating houses located above decentlooking taverns, places with the heavy, domestic look of restaurants in towns far from any rail line. This is 19 minutes it contains notes 15 and includes pessoas preface where he claims to meet bernardo soares, the author of this book i. 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. This almostautobiographical story tells of the sombre majesty of splendours no one knows in the very private life of its hero and offers. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Fernando pessoa etait encore pratiquement inconnu en france, jusque.
Twentyfive unpublished english poems by fernando pessoa. Fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is aptly titled. Im always out in the evenings doing something, the purpose of which eludes me. Full text of fernando pessoa as english reader and writer. The english translations i offer after reading prof.
Harlands versions are intended as an extra incentive for students to read the. Reading the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa as it appeared on the 2002 world librarys greatest books of all time list. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, paperback. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who introduced it as a factless autobiography.
Pessoa plurala journal of fernando pessoa studies, n. Apicapic in the book of disquiet, bernardo soares, an assistant bookkeeper in a lisbon fabrics. Disquiet refers to a feeling of anxiety, and this story has plenty of unease for both its narrator and readers. The narrator, perhaps a standin for pessoa himself, is clearly a distant literary relative of. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa librarything. Fernando pessoa describes his work the book of disquiet as being an autobiography lacking facts. In edwin honigs and susan browns superb translations, pessoa and his others live with miraculous style and vitality. The critical edition of fernando pessoas complete english poems is yet to come.
Pessoas vocabulary is relatively simple and the beauty of his architecture of words is beyond description and definitely wellworth the effort. The book is an aggregation of disparate diary entries that are abstract, dense, and at times, eccentric. When portuguese writer fernando pessoa 1888 1935 passed away, he left a trunk containing some 25,426 items a vast collection of poems, fragments, letters, journals. He attributed his prolific writings to a wide range of alternative selves, each of whom had a distinct biography. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics ebook. Pessoa was mostly a poet and the book of disquiet can be read, if you wish, as a series of notes for poems as yet unwritten. The book of disquiet also translated as the book of disquietude has a format somewhat like a journal or diary and is also a collection of vignettes and reflections. An autobiography or diary containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions. To read and then contemplate him is to be lifted a little bit above the earth in a floating bubble. The book of disquiet 1982 is a novel by portuguese author fernando pessoa, published posthumously, using the heteronym bernardo soares quotes. The absurd lie has all the charm of the perverse with fernando pessoa. For its entire four hundred plus pages it offers a philosophy of a melancholic life, a philosophy of dreaming, and a philosophy of art. Fernando pessoa 18881935, the portuguese poet, literary critic, and. Fernando pessoa 18881935 was born in lisbon and brought up in durban, south africa.
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