Pessoa : a biography / Richard Zenith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zenith, Richard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pessoa, Fernando, 1888-1935.

Pessoa, Fernando.

Poets, Portuguese--20th century--Biography.

Poets, Portuguese.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 1055 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : Liveright Publishing Corporation, [2021]

Summary:

"Like Richard Ellmann's James Joyce, Richard Zenith's Pessoa immortalizes the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Eighty-five years after his wrenching death in a cramped Lisbon apartment, where he left more than 25,000 manuscript sheets in a wooden trunk, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) remains one of the most enigmatic and underappreciated poets of the twentieth century. Celebrated for writing in dozens of different poetic voices, known as heteronyms, Pessoa has finally found his definitive biographer in renowned translator Richard Zenith. Setting the story of Pessoa's life against the nationalistic currents of early twentieth-century European history, Zenith charts the depths of Pessoa's explosive imagination and literary genius. Much as José Saramago brought one of Pessoa's heteronyms to life in The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, Zenith traces the backstories of virtually all of Pessoa's imagined personalities, demonstrating how they were projections, spin-offs, or metamorphoses of Pessoa himself. Nothing less than a literary masterpiece, Zenith's monumental work confirms the power of Pessoa's words to speak prophetically to the disconnectedness of modern life"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I The Born Foreigner (1888

1905)

pt. II The Poet as Transformer (1905

1914)

pt. III Dreamer and Civilizer (1914

1925)

pt. IV Spiritualist and Humanist (1925

1935).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780871404718

0871404710

OCLC:

1196176714