Reading Order
The Book of DisquietPessoa Book of Disquiet Reading Order
Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet (published posthumously 1982, written 1913–1935) is one of the strangest and most beautiful books in world literature — the fictional diary of Bernardo Soares, an assistant bookkeeper in a Lisbon commercial office, organized as a series of fragments ranging from a few lines to several pages, meditating on consciousness, tedium, solitude, and the relationship between life and dreaming. Pessoa himself published almost nothing in his lifetime; after his death in 1935, a trunk was found containing approximately 27,000 manuscript fragments in various languages and in the voices of various 'heteronyms' — fictional alter egos with distinct personalities, biographies, and literary styles. The Book of Disquiet was assembled from fragments attributed to Bernardo Soares and is more fully developed than most of Pessoa's other projects, but no definitive edition has ever been established.
Where to start
The Book of Disquiet
Complete The Book of Disquiet Book List
- 1Buy
The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa·1982·Pessoa's master work — the fictional diary of Bernardo Soares; best read in Richard Zenith's Penguin Classics edition, which provides the fullest and best-organized selection from the manuscript fragments - 2Buy
Message
Fernando Pessoa·1934·The only book Pessoa published in his lifetime in Portuguese — a cycle of poems on Portuguese history and the mystic destiny of Portugal; short and accessible, it shows the Portuguese nationalist dimension of Pessoa's thought alongside the cosmopolitan irony of The Book of Disquiet - 3Buy
A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe
Fernando Pessoa·2006·Richard Zenith's selection of poems by Pessoa and his three major heteronyms (Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, Álvaro de Campos) — the best introduction to the full range of Pessoa's fictional-persona project for readers who want to understand The Book of Disquiet in the context of his other work
The Book of Disquiet — Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Bernardo Soares?
Bernardo Soares is one of Pessoa's 'heteronyms' — fictional alter egos with distinct personalities and literary styles. Unlike Pessoa's other major heteronyms (Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, Álvaro de Campos), Soares is described by Pessoa as a 'semi-heteronym,' closer to Pessoa's own personality than the others. Soares is an assistant bookkeeper in a Lisbon commercial office, living a life of almost total interiority and creative solitude.
Is there a definitive edition of The Book of Disquiet?
No — the manuscript fragments were never organized by Pessoa himself, and different editors have made different selections and arrangements. The most widely used English edition is Richard Zenith's Penguin Classics translation, which is the most comprehensive and provides a thoughtful arrangement of the fragments. Margaret Jull Costa's earlier Serpent's Tail translation is also excellent.
What is The Book of Disquiet about?
The Book of Disquiet is the fictional diary of Bernardo Soares, who meditates on his own consciousness, his experience of Lisbon, his aesthetic ideas, his dreams, and his sense of the fundamental unreality of existence. The fragments are enormously varied in tone — some are philosophical essays, some are prose poems, some are very brief aphorisms, some are extended meditations on a single image or idea. The book has no plot and is not meant to be read straight through.
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