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/lit/ - Literature

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3853849 No.3853849 [Reply] [Original]

Any of you fans of Pessoa, the man with the thousand names? I really loved The Book of Disquiet and The Anarchist Banker. The Education of the Stoic should be next.

What is /lit/'s opinion on Fernando Pessoa.

>> No.3853885

He's one of my favorite authors, I've read just about everything by him.

>> No.3853896

>>3853885
Cool, I was wondering if I should also get into his poetry. Is there a particular collection of poetry I should try out?

>> No.3853922

>>3853896
Pessoa is a better poet than novelist. He's certainly one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, along with Stevens, Ashbery, Neruda, and Tagore. Get the Penguin "A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe" collection translated by Richard Zenith.

>> No.3853991

>>3853922

This. It was my most used and abused book of poetry before I lost it.

The poem "Fugitive" essentially explains why he lives with heteronyms, and it is very thought-provoking.

>> No.3854363

Brazilian here, grew up with his books and Sir Dour by Machado de Assis. Really good stuff.

>> No.3854379

I was reading the book of disquiet recently but I had to drop it, wasn't getting anywhere. He's just so boring and repetitive, constantly contradicting himself as well. Such a whiner, made me feel bad for some of the girls I've talked to since that's all I ever do.

>> No.3854489

Portuguese here. Every annoying 18 year old facebook girl "loves" him and updates status with his poems and quotes, just thought you should know that.

>> No.3854496

>>3854489
That means he is either appealing to the hoi polloi or extremely good, possibly both. Nice characterization, actually.

>> No.3854903

>>3854489
i'm hoping this is a troll because I can't really imagine facebook girls posting pessoa "my mother died before I knew her etc"

Also, Saramago's Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis is really great. I was putting post-its everywhere in that book, lots of great lines.

>> No.3854918

>>3854903

They post "romantic" quotes and poems of Alberto Caeiro, the "I fucking love nature and simple things"one.

>> No.3854924

>>3854496
>the hoi polloi
>the the polloi

>> No.3854928

The Book of Disquiet is one of my favorite books ever

>> No.3854975

>>3854489
I'm glad I didn't know this before I developed an obsession with him, myself.

Can we talk English translations? Anyone read a translation of Book of Disquiet that isn't Zenith If so, how was it (and have you read Zenith's translation, as well)?

>> No.3855087

>>3854918
Instead of thinking "Pessoa is bad because 18 year old Portuguese girls like him", I prefer "18 year old Portuguese girls have good taste"

Pessoa is pretty accessible, so it's not crazy to think they actually understand and appreciate his work.

>> No.3855118
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3855118

>>3854489

>just thought you should know that.

I like how you sardonically end this post as if it's some world-shattering factoid that's going to get all of us to instantly re-think his writing.

For someone posting in such disdain of "the teens", you sure are acting like a superficial child right now.

>> No.3855138

Anybody has a favorite heteronym. I'm quite partial to Alvaro de Campos myself.

>> No.3855158

>>3855138
REISSSSSSSSSSS

>> No.3855164

>>3855138
Is there a rundown on the major heteronyms and their stories/poems/major themes?

>> No.3855183

>>3855164
Wikipedia's article is pretty complete, but I'm sure you can find find a book with more in-depth analysis of his heteronyms and their work.
This is also a pretty good article on the subject.
http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/tributes/fernando_pessoa_his_heteronyms/