Saturday, June 14, 2008

Pessoa: 120 anos

Yesterday we also cellebrated Fernando Pessoa's 120th Anniversary of his birth (born June 13, 1888 in Lisbon, Portugal — died November 30, 1935 in the same city) with the inauguration of another statue dedicated to Pessoa, a.k.a. Chevalier de Pas, a.k.a. Dr. Pancrácio and David Merrick, a.k.a. Charles Robert Anon and Alexander Search; a.k.a. by many other names, most notably: Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares. 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 The Book of Disquiet.

«O poeta é um fingidor/ Finge tão completamente/ Que chega a fingir que é dor/ A dor que deveras sente. * The poet is a faker/ Who's so good at his act/ He even fakes the pain/ Of pain he feels in fact».
Fernando Pessoa, "Autopsychography" (Autopsicografia) (tr. Richard Zenith)

6 comments:

Flying Solo said...

Deste tesouro nunca me canso!! VIVA FERNANDO PESSOA!!!!!!!!

Flying Solo said...

Depois espreita o meu ultimo post em Lisboa, sem saber tinha uma foto da roda nos meus ficheiros.

Gata Verde said...

Sempre actual...viva Pessoa!

Small City Scenes said...

I guess I should say...viva Pessoa... I will take St. Anthony to honor on this day, too. MB

Louis la Vache said...

On a different subject:

SPECIAL EDITION FOR CHUCK PEFLEY!

George Townboy said...

This is a fantastic post! Thank you. He was a young man when he died!!

And through this post I have come to understand why I have so many a/k/a's!!