PESSOA - A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
Fernando Pessoa (b. June 13, 1888 in Lisbon, Portugal — d. November 30, 1935 in the same city) is my favourite poet and writer. That is the reason why I decided to post his drawing by Almada Negreiros, along with a short biography posted as a comment (from Wikipedia), which I dedicate to my friends all over the World, specially those from City Daily Photoblog!!...
7 comments:
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!
«When Pessoa was five years old, his father died of tuberculosis. A year later, his brother also died and his widowed mother was remarried to the Portuguese consul in Durban, South Africa; the family moved to the city in 1896. The young Pessoa received his early education in Durban and Cape Town [1], becoming fluent in the English language and developing an appreciation for English poets such as William Shakespeare and John Milton.
He then went back to Lisbon, at the age of seventeen, attending a "Curso Superior de Letras" in a Portuguese university. A student strike soon put an end to his studies, however, and Pessoa chose to study privately at home for a year. His term of study ended and Pessoa found a job working as an assistant for a businessman, where he was charged with writing correspondence and translating documents. In 1914, he and other artists and poets such as Almada Negreiros and Mário de Sá Carneiro, created the literary magazine Orpheu that would introduce modern literature in Portugal.
His interest in the mystical led Pessoa to correspond with the occultist Aleister Crowley, later helping him to plan an elaborate fake suicide when the latter visited Portugal in 1930 [2]. He translated Crowley's poem Hymn To Pan into Portuguese.
Pessoa died of cirrhosis in 1935, almost unknown to the public and with only one book published: "Mensagem" (Message). In 1985, his remains were moved to the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon, the same place where there are the tombs of Vasco da Gama, Luís de Camões, and Alexandre Herculano.
Pessoa's earliest heteronym, at the age of six, was the Chevalier de Pas.[1] Other childhood heteronyms included Dr Pancrácio and David Merrick [2], followed by Charles Robert Anon and Alexander Search; these were eventually succeeded by others, most notably: Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares. Translator Richard Zenith notes that Pessoa eventually established at least seventy-two heteronyms.[2] The heteronyms possess distinct temperaments, philosophies, appearances and writing styles. According to Pessoa, the heteronym closest to his personality was Bernardo Soares, the author of Book of Disquiet.»
Ninguém escreveu sobre a Alma Portuguesa e o Mar tão bém como Fernando Pessoa.
Excelente post, SG...
Daí Pessoa ser um dos preferidos.
Procurarei publicar alguns poemas em versão bilingue ao longo dos meses.
Obrigada, Amigo.
An interesting post. I like the drawing very much.
I would like to thank you for your visits to my blog in 2007 and to wish you and your family and friends a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008.
I, too, would like to thank you for your visits. Also, I'm glad that you liked the Irish Blessing that I posted on several sites. Have a healthy and happy new year. Cheers for 2008!
Thanks, OldManLincoln and Kate!!
I just loved that blessing and will post it here soon.
Until then, I'll leave it as a comment:
«An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.»
in the hollow of his hand
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