Assembled from notes and jottings left unpublished at the time of the authors death, the book of disquiet is a collection of aphoristic prosepoetry musings on dreams, solitude, time and memory. Online book the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa amazon english text mobile online original link read. The book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 1888 1935. 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. Fernando pessoa translation by margaret jull costa. Only at night and all alone, withdrawn, forgotten and lost, with no connection to anything real or useful only then do i find myself and feel comforted. Like im sick of everything, and of the everythingness of everything. 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. Book of disquietude, the syracuse university press. When he died in 1935, pessoa left behind a trunk filled with unfinished and unpublished writings, among which were the remarkable pages that make up his posthumous masterpiece, the book of disquiet, an astonishing work that, in george steiners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. 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. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary. An assembly of sometimes linked fragments, it is a.
He died november 30, 1935, in lisbon from cirrhosis of. This is the factless autobiography of bernardo soares, one of the 72 literary personae or heteronyms with which fernando pessoa created the theatre of himself. Publishers weeklypessoas amazing personality is as beguiling and mysterious. Fernando pessoas multiple voices have different styles and idioms, and each one is extraordinary. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them.
His father died when pessoa was five years old, and the family moved with his mothers new husband, a consul, to durban, south africa, where pessoa attended an english school. Fernando pessoa books list of books by author fernando. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa book chat duration. The book of disquietude by bernardo soares, assistant bookkeeper in the city of lisbon. The book of disquiet is a hodgepodge of different fragmentary ideas, and though there is some editorial freedom in such a concept, fernando pessoa did include some notes on which parts he wanted. 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 book of disquietude, also known as, the book of. Apicapic in the book of disquiet, bernardo soares, an assistant bookkeeper in a lisbon fabrics firm, records impressions he doesnt expect to see.
Online book the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa. Livro do desassossego the book of disquiet, fernando pessoa the book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 18881935. The narrator, perhaps a standin for pessoa himself, is clearly a distant literary relative of shakespeares hamlet or eliots prufrock. I chat about my experience of the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa. Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life. You feel immoveable, that the story is leading you nowhere except into depression and perhaps even death. The authors description of a consciousness experiencing what we call life is genius. The book of disquietude by bernardo soares, assistant.
First published in 1982, this is the factless autobiography of bernardo soares, one of the 72 literary personae or heteronyms with which fernando pessoa created the theatre of his absence. Carcanet in association with the calouste gulbenkian foundation, 1991. There was no need to choose between the wheat and the myrtles, and the distance continued to recede among the cypresses. When fernando pessoa died in 1935 he left behind a trunk containing over 25,000 items a vast collection of poems, fragments, letters, journals. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. The book of disquietude aspects of portugal paperback december 1, 1996 by fernando pessoa author 5. The book of disquietude of course, this book is certainly not a novel. 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. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, paperback. With a preface by fernando pessoa, orthonym, the book is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who. These pieces were ascribed to a variety of writers the heteronyms or assumed identities pessoa had created over the course of his extravagant written life. Fernando pessoa the book of disquiet read by adam sims unabridged.
Conceived in 1916, soares is, pessoa declared, amutilation of his own personality. So disquieted by the book of disquietude by fernando pessoa to the extent that i couldnt finish it. Not sure where i first came upon his name but a few years ago i was in portugal for a weeks autumn holiday on the southern coast with some friends. The observer, sunday 17 october 2010 article history. By bernardo soares, assistant bookkeeper in the city of lisbon. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who introduced it as a factless autobiography. The book of disquietude or the book of disquiet livro do desassossego in portuguese, published posthumously, is one of the greatest works by fernando pessoa. Illustration by riccardo vecchio if ever there was a writer in flight from his name, it was fernando pessoa. It is signed under the semiheteronym bernando soares. Credited to pessoas alter ego, bernardo soares, who chronicles his contemplations in this socalled factless. The majority of pessoas poems, heteronymic or otherwise, appeared in literary journals and magazines.
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. The book of disquiet was found, in fragments, only after pessoas death. A postmodernist poet posthumously adopted as part of the portuguese canon, fernando pessoa below adopted a series of voices. The book of disquiet project gutenberg selfpublishing. This almostautobiographical story tells of the sombre majesty of splendours no one knows in the very private life of its hero and offers. The circular text returns again and again to a protagonist desperate to find out who he is. The book of disquiet serpents tail classics by pessoa, fernando and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The book of disquiet penguin classics fernando pessoa, richard zenith isbn. Fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is aptly titled. Readers with a particular interest in modernism will find this work indispensable. Fernando pessoa was one of the most powerful figures of the portuguese literary world who significantly contributed to portuguese literature of the 20 th century. However, like thenovels of sebald, rilke, calasso and others, it is included here because it is not recognisably classifiable. In the bay, between the woods and the meadows, there rose out of the uncertainty of the blank abyss the inconstancy of flaming desire. He published his first book of english poems, antinous in 1918, followed by sonnets 1918 and english poems 1921, but released only a single book of portuguese poems, mensagem, in 1933.
At thirteen pessoa returned to portugal for a yearlong visit, and returned there permanently in 1905. Book of disquietude by fernando pessoa, richard zenith. The book of disquietude aspects of portugal fernando pessoa on amazon. See all 7 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. Google map location syracuse, new york 2445290 315. Future editors, as obsessed as they are with completionism, included more than the author intended sometimes depending on the version. The book of disquiet penguin classics pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard, zenith, richard on. Conceived in 1916, soares is, pessoa declared, amutilation of. The book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoas greatest literary achievement. Disquiet refers to a feeling of anxiety, and this story has plenty of unease for both its narrator and readers.
Fernando pessoa, one of the founders of modernism, was born in lisbon in 1888. Book of disquietude by fernando pessoa used very good. As for guedes, pessoa opens, this book is not by him, it is him. In this extraordinary book, the putative factless autobiography of an accountant named bernardo soares, fernando pessoa explores and. I failed life even before i had lived it, because even as i dreamed it, i failed to see its.
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