Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. One is reminded, perhaps, of the serious playfulness of his illustrious countryman fernando pessoa, the comic spirit of cervantes, the bookish fantasies of borges, or kafkas disquieting ability to suggest deep meaning in absurdity. Reading the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa as it appeared on the 2002 world librarys greatest books of all time list. Was 18 march 1914 the most extraordinary date in modern literature. 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.
Quotes from the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa. Graphic novel livro do desassossego, fernando pessoa on. 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. Part travelog, part autobiography, part fiction, and even a bit of a cookbook, requiem becomes an homage to a country and its people, and a farewell to the past as the narrator lays claim to a literary forebear who, like himself, is an evasive and manysided. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. For my boss vasques, moreira the book keeper, borges the cashier, all the lads, the cheery boy who takes the letters to the post office, the errand boy, the friendly cat they have all become part of my life.
The book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 1888 1935. Fernando pessoa 18881935 was born in lisbon and brought up in durban, south africa. This book is simultaneously an autobiography, a diary, and. Fernando pessoa, one of the founders of modernism, was born in lisbon in 1888. 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. When he died in 1935, pessoa left behind a trunk filled with unfinished and unpublished writings, among which were the remarkable pages that make up his posthumous masterpiece, the book of disquiet, an astonishing work that, in george steiners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. By bernardo soares, assistant bookkeeper in the city of lisbon. Finally he meets the guest, the ghost of the long dead great poet fernando pessoa. From what i understand this book is a collection of prose snippets from over 40 years that were compiled after the portuguese poets death.
For its entire four hundred plus pages it offers a philosophy of a melancholic life, a philosophy of dreaming, and a philosophy of art. He left behind a chest full of writing that would be later known to many as the book of disquiet. Our narrators eponymous protagonist, ricardo reis, has returned to portugal at the time of political turmoil and instability throughout europe in the 1930s. The book of disquiet deserves to be booked for a disquieting reprise. This almostautobiographical story tells of the sombre majesty of splendours no one knows in the very private life of its hero and offers. Most of pessoa s writing was not published during his lifetime. There is, at this hour, a disquieting harmony, extending from the visible. If you live outside of the united states, you can call me over skype. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who introduced it as a factless autobiography. Mensagem by fernando pessoa the 2166th greatest fiction. A disquieting autobiography nelson guerreiro medium. May 30, 2002 buy the book of disquiet penguin modern classics new ed by pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard isbn. November 30, 1935 in the same city was a portuguese poet and writer. This book is the 2166th greatest fiction book of all time as determined by.
Fernando pessoa drinking a glass of wine in a lisbon tavern in 1929. 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. The narrator, perhaps a standin for pessoa himself, is clearly a distant literary relative of shakespeares hamlet or eliots prufrock. Buy book of disquiet by fernand pessoa from waterstones today.
As long as the book was just one book, consisting of postsymbolist texts with titles, the announced author was fernando pessoa, but when it mutated to accommodate diaristic passages, inevitably more intimate and revealing, pessoa followed his usual custom of hiding behind other names, the rst of which was vicente guedes. Fernando pessoa books list of books by author fernando pessoa. It is probably difficult to separate the part each of them had in the origin of the movement, and certainly quite useless to determine it. Fernando pessoa quotes author of the book of disquiet page.
As a summary of the work of the writer generally known as fernando pessoa, this autobiographical declaration poses some unusual problems. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa is one such modern masterpiece that i read last week. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics ebook. It was to bernardo soares that pessoa ascribed his book of disquiet, first made available in english in a briefer version by richard zenith in 1991. Pessoa and crowley struck up an oddcouple correspondence in 1930. Im always out in the evenings doing something, the purpose of which eludes me. Follow fernando pessoa and explore their bibliography from s fernando pessoa author page. Wherever i may be, ill miss senhor vasques and the o ce on the rua dos. Im always speaking banally to someone, with a contrived smile on my face. The book of disquiet was first published in portugal in 1982. Portugal holds on to a poets words that few can grasp the. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary.
The modernist master fernando pessoa s work remained largely unnoticed during his lifetime. The book is an aggregation of disparate diary entries that are abstract, dense, and at times, eccentric. Now, for the first time the texts are presented chronologically, in a complete english edition by master translator. 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. Disquiet refers to a feeling of anxiety, and this story has plenty of unease for both its narrator and readers. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, paperback barnes. Reading the portuguese writer jos saramago, one quickly senses the presence of a master. Fernando antonio nogueira pessoa was a poet and writer. A prolific writer, ascribing his work to a variety of personas or heteronyms, pessoa published little in his lifetime and. Most of pessoas writing was not published during his lifetime. Fernando pessoa s the book of disquiet cousineau, thomas, pessoa, fernando a richly insightful guide to fernando pessoa s masterpiece, for both students and the common reader.
The book of disquiet 1982 is a novel by portuguese author fernando pessoa, published posthumously, using the heteronym bernardo soares quotes. Pessoas disquieting themes eventually grew into the philosophical. Fernando antonio nogueira pessoa pronounced fndu pso. May 30, 2002 fernando pessoa 18881935 was born in lisbon and brought up in durban, south africa. Jun 19, 2015 fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is aptly titled. For my boss vasques, moreira the bookkeeper, borges the cashier, all the lads, the cheery boy who takes the letters to the post office, the errand boy, the friendly cat they have all become part of my life. The book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoas greatest literary achievement. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics and over 8 million other books. Full text of fernando pessoa as english reader and writer. 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. Pessoas disquieting themes eventually grew into the philosophical worldview claimed by the existentialists but he was an existentialist before many of them.
With hugo coelho, otavio martins, pedro granato, vania debs. Texts citing the name of vicente guedes appendix ii. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa book chat youtube. Jun 02, 2001 the book of disquiet fernando pessoa, trans. Quotes from the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa bookmate. You are free if you can withdraw from people, not having to seek them out for the sake of money, company, love, glory or curiosity, none of which can thrive in silence and solitude.
The book of disquiet is the weirdest autobiography ever. He is in this sense very unlike his creator fernando pessoa. Mar 26, 2016 i chat about my experience of the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa. An autobiography or diary containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions. 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. Fernando pessoas the book of disquiet cousineau, thomas, pessoa, fernando a richly insightful guide to fernando pessoas masterpiece, for both students and the common reader. Fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is aptly titled. A selfdeprecating reflection on the sheer distance between the loftiness of feelings and the humdrumreality of life, the book of disquiet is a classic of existentialist literature. 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. Apr 10, 2017 the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa my life outside of work has become a kind of work, full of duties and responsibilities from which i long to escape. The book of disquiet is the masterwork of portuguese writer fernando pessoa.
I have more souls than one penguin modern by fernando pessoa paperback. Fernando pessoa the book of disquiet edited and translated by richard zenith. Aug 29, 2017 the book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoas greatest literary achievement. Dec 25, 2009 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.
The statement is possible since pessoa, whose name means person in portuguese, had three alter egos who wrote in styles completely different from his own. With its borgesian and joycean echoes, this surrealist and symbolic novel pays homage to the poetry of fernando pessoa, as well as being an ambulatory paean to the city of lisbon. The authors description of a consciousness experiencing what we call life is genius. Nov 30, 2006 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. This page contains details about the fiction book mensagem by fernando pessoa published in 1934. Buy the book of disquiet penguin modern classics new ed by pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard isbn.