Pessoa - An Experimental Life

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021br>br> ''A revelation. Such a revolutionary literary discovery seems unlikely to be on offer again. It''s that good'' Sunday Timesbr>br> ''A masterpiece of literary biography. Zenith has produced a work in some ways as astonishing as those of Pessoa himself'' John Gray, New Statesmanbr>br>For many thousands of readers Fernando Pessoa''s The Book of Disquiet is almost a way of life. Ironic, haunting and melancholy, this completely unclassifiable work is the masterpiece of one of the twentieth century''s most enigmatic writers.br>br> Richard Zenith''s Pessoa at last allows us to understand this extraordinary figure. Some eighty-five years after his premature death in Lisbon, where he left over 25,000 manuscript sheets in a wooden trunk, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) can now be celebrated as one of the great modern poets. Setting the story of his life against the nationalistic currents of European history, Zenith charts the heights of Pessoa''s explosive imagination and literary genius.br>br> Much of Pessoa''s charm and strangeness came from his writing under a variety of names that he used not only to conceal his identity but also to write in wildly varied styles with different imagined personalities. Zenith traces the back stories of virtually all of these invented others, called ''heteronyms'', demonstrating how they were projections, spin-offs or metamorphoses of Pessoa himself.br>br> Zenith''s monumental work confirms the power of Pessoa''s words to speak prophetically to the disconnectedness of modern life. It is also a wonderful book about Lisbon, the city which Pessoa reinvented and through which his different selves wandered.br>br>''Definitive and sublime'' New York Timesbr>br> ''Completely superb and magisterial. Finally, this extraordinary poet gets the great biography he deserves. Unsurpassable'' William Boyd>

Product details

• Authors: Richard Zenith, Zenith Richard
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.08.2022
• EAN: 9780141998299
• ISBN: 978-0-14-199829-9
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 200 mm x 50 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Romance linguistics / literary studies; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies; Portugal, European History, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / Spanish & Portuguese, HISTORY / Europe / Spain & Portugal, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Early 20th century c 1900 to c 1950, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: poetry and poets