Fernando Pessoa’s Unselving

Fernando Pessoa is my inspiration. As a teenager, his heteronyms shaped my life. Not because of being heteronyms, but because of the philosophies of life that they taught, and how they differed. Pessoa taught me that there there can be a fusion of philosophy and poetry.

Fernando Pessoa is one of the few "famous" people who I would really love to meet and have a chat with -- the other being George Orwell. I am currently reading the Book of Disquiet and I sometimes have to stop myself from being too marveled at what I'm reading. The depth of emotion and of insight!...

Related:

The literary life of Pessoa’s alter ego (2020) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34253952 - Jan 2023 (2 comments)

The Literary Games of Fernando Pessoa - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32111909 - July 2022 (10 comments)

I haven’t been I: On Fernando Pessoa (2021) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30120732 - Jan 2022 (8 comments)

The many imagined lives of Fernando Pessoa - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29908996 - Jan 2022 (6 comments)

Fernando Pessoa: Office Worker, Occultist, Galaxy of Writers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28191843 - Aug 2021 (16 comments)

The Politics of Fernando Pessoa - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27768795 - July 2021 (17 comments)

A Little Fellow with a Big Head: On Fernando Pessoa - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23983483 - July 2020 (7 comments)

Fernando Pessoa’s Disappearing Act (2017) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23894466 - July 2020 (46 comments)

A large archive of Pessoa's work is free and online:

http://arquivopessoa.net/

One section "Poesia Inglesa" is works written by Pessoa in Native English (not translations from Portuguese). Most famous is his pseudonym 'Alexander Search' but there are other pieces in English also archived.

Definitely one of my most favorite writers in the last few years — been pushing people around me to read him, and have managed to make one person a fan. Advocacy to be continued!

“I’d woken up early, and I took a long time getting ready to exist.” - Pessoa

I had heard the name before, but other than that I wasn't really aware of Pessoa until now. But what blew me away when reading the Wikipedia article about him was not the "multiple personalities", but this:

> In his lifetime, he published four books in English and one alone in Portuguese: Mensagem (Message). However, he left a lifetime of unpublished, unfinished or just sketchy work in a domed, wooden trunk (25,574 manuscript and typed pages which have been housed in the Portuguese National Library since 1988). The heavy burden of editing this huge work is still in progress.

Fernando Pessoa's most creative (and internationalizable) work is, by far, his heteronyms, but his most notable work is "The message"[0], a short poetry book that took decades to complete. While it can't surpass, it endeavors to stand alongside "The Lusiads"[1] by Luis de Camões[2], the most significant book in the Portuguese language. Unfortunately I suspect that only natives or foreigners with a Ph.D. level understanding of Portuguese history and a strong command of Portuguese can truly comprehend "The message". Portuguese History[3] is encapsulated within its verses, using simple words where everything falls into place.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensagem

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os_Lus%C3%ADadas

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Cam%C3%B5es

[3] ...Or historic propaganda. As a curiosity, the book was warded a poetry prize from "Propaganda" ministry at the time.

"Branco ou tinto, é o mesmo: é para vomitar." - Álvaro de Campos (i.e., Fernando Pessoa)

He was really an incredible poet.