I haven’t been I: On Fernando Pessoa (2021)

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n16/colm-toibin/i-haven-t-been-i

by benbreen • 4 years ago

49 8 4 years ago

lrb.co.uk

goldfeld2• 4 years ago

So here might be a place in which to ask: Eça de Queiroz nentions "the poet of Vozes d'Aurora", in a novel (Os Maias), but I couldn't find any results on it, is it a fictitious creation?

davidpires• 4 years ago

Yes

geraldyo• 4 years ago

I think this is referencing Alencar, another character in Os Maias. Queiros calls him that only 5 or 6 times during the book, If I remember correctly he uses it as a callout for something, but I can't remember what. Wonder what "poet of the voices of the dawn" could mean

jdmoreira• 4 years ago

It means he is the voice of the new generation. Even though he is older he resonates strongly with the younger generation.

I was raised in Portugal so I had to study the Maias in school and read multiple analysis. This book has been over analyzed to death in Portugal even though you will probably only find most of those analysis in Portuguese

frereubu• 4 years ago

Lovely to see Pessoa on here twice in about a month! As before, I'll recommend this BBC In Our Time episode if anyone's interested in some background: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q0yj

bshepard• 4 years ago

"I see life as a roadside inn where I have to stay until the coach from the abyss pulls up. I don’t know where it will take me, because I don’t know anything. I could see this inn as a prison, for I’m compelled to wait in it; I could see it as a social centre, for it’s here that I meet others. But I’m neither impatient nor common. I leave who will to stay shut up in their rooms, sprawled out on beds where they sleeplessly wait, and I leave who will to chat in the parlours, from where their songs and voices conveniently drift out here to me. I’m sitting at the door, feasting my eyes and ears on the colours and sounds of the landscape, and I softly sing – for myself alone – wispy songs I compose while waiting."

The Book of Disquiet -- Fernando Pessoa

stanislavb• 4 years ago

I've started reading "The book of disquiet" recently and it's definitely an original piece of art.

I haven’t been I: On Fernando Pessoa (2021)

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