In the meantime, be sure and buy from , , , or .��

We still have a few episodes left in the����dz���season of the (“Part V” on 8/28 with Caitlin Luce Baker, “Part VI” on 9/4 with Ryan Chapman, and a wrap-up on 9/10 with Dubravka Ugresic herself), but it’s never too early to start planning ahead for the next season . . .

Starting on September 24th for (September 27th for anyone who prefers the ), Brian and I will be tackling this:

��by Fernando Pessoa, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa (New Directions)

I’m sure a lot of Three Percent readers are already familiar with Pessoa-and probably have read at least some, if not all of this book–but for everyone else, he’s one of the all-time greats. Creator of some seventy-two heteronyms, Pessoa was a poet, literary critic, and essayist, and��The Book of Disquiet��is considered to be one of the greatest works of the twentieth century. There are a number of editions available, both by different translators and with somewhat different contents, but we’ll get into all that on the podcast. For now, here’s the jacket copy from New Directions:

The Book of Disquiet��is the Portuguese modernist master Fernando Pessoa’s greatest literary achievement. An “autobiography” or “diary” containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions. Now, for the first time the texts are presented chronologically, in a complete English edition by master translator Margaret Jull Costa. Most of the texts in��The Book of Disquiet��are written under the semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares, an assistant bookkeeper. This existential masterpiece was first published in Portuguese in 1982, forty-seven years after Pessoa’s death. A monumental literary event, this exciting, new, complete edition spans Fernando Pessoa’s entire writing life.

If you’re already a listener to the (and if not, you should be), you’ll know that this Pessoa quote is the most Chad TMR quote possible:

My only regret is that I am not a child, for that would allow me to believe in my dreams and believe that I am not mad, which would allow me to distance my soul from all those who surround me.

This is going to be a fun season . . .

Anyway, we’re in process of lining up a number of amazing guests, so you’ll want to subscribe (on or or wherever you get podcasts) and pick up a book so that you can read along.

Speaking of that, here’s the schedule with the dates (stay tuned for days/times of the ):

10/4: Introduction (i-xix)

10/11: Sections 1-39 (pages 1-46)

10/18: Sections 40-81 (pgs 47-94)

10/25: Sections 82-130 (pgs 95-141)

11/1: Sections 131-173 (pgs 142-189)

11/8: Sections 174-221 (pgs 190-237)

11/15: Sections 222-273 (pgs 238-287)

11/22: Sections 274-315 (pgs 288-336)

11/29: Sections 316-358 (pgs 337-387)

12/6: Sections 359-393 (pgs 388-421)

12/13: Sections 394-End (pgs 422-468)

As always, the will be a mix of jokes and literary criticism–an ongoing attempt to demonstrate that “difficult,” “long” books can be fun to read. You can read along with us, just listen to the podcasts, dip in and out . . . Whatever works for you. It’s always a fun time though, and hopefully a nice addition to the other book-related podcasts out there.

L’héritage documentaire de Fernando Pessoa, considéré comme le plus grand poète portugais du XXe siècle, a été classé “trésor national”, .

This looks to put an end to some controversy that was started last summer, when Pessoa’s heirs planned to .

According to the TV5 article:

Elle s’applique à la totalité de l’héritage de Fernando Pessoa, connu ou à découvrir, et interdit toute sortie du territoire national.

La procédure de classement de l’héritage de Pessoa, qui comprend des milliers de lettres, photographies, manuscrits et notes, avait été initiée en octobre 2008 par la Bibliothèque nationale, sur fond de polémique autour de plusieurs ventes aux enchères organisées par ses héritiers.

Essentially, his papers—those that are currently known and those that are yet to be discovered—are forbidden from leaving Portugal.

Before getting to the really cool thing, here’s a bit of info on Pessoa, who—along with all of his heteronyms—really was an amazing writer:

After the death of Pessoa’s father in 1893, his mother remarried and the family moved from Lisbon to Durban, South Africa. Pessoa was educated in English and wrote entirely in English until he was seventeen, when he chose to return to Portugal in order to follow a university course. He soon abandoned his studies – a student strike disrupted classes – and, instead, set up a publishing company that rapidly slid into bankruptcy. Whilst in South Africa, he had followed a course in business English and bookkeeping and, since he was also fluent in French, he got a job as a bookkeeper and translator of foreign correspondence in a company in Lisbon and earned a modest living from this until his death at 47 from cirrhosis of the liver. In his spare time he wrote mainly poetry, but also essays and articles, and was involved in various short-lived literary magazines.

The only other works published in his lifetime were a collection of thirty-five sonnets in English (published privately) and a book of poems, Mensagem (Message) in 1934. His genius was only recognised after his death and he is now considered to be Portugal’s greatest modern poet. He left behind a large trunk stuffed with quantities of typed and handwritten papers which are still being collated and published.

Now to illustrate the difficulties of translation, Costa used created this which has the Portuguese original and a translated version where you can choose one of several different English words at a number of key spots in the text. (Such a good use of internet technology!)

Following this exercise, there’s a list of and Costa’s

Verbs of emotion are often difficult to translate, because one has to gauge the level or degree of the emotion described or expressed. Here, with ‘pasmo’, Pessoa is describing a high degree of surprise, so I think ‘I’m always astonished’ or I’m always amazed’ are better than ‘surprised’ – too weak – and ‘stupefied’ and ‘horrified’ – too strong. ‘Pasmar’ has more to do with shocked astonishment than with horror. With ‘desolo-me’, again there is no one perfect translation, since the word implies desolation, distress and sadness. As so often in translation, there is no perfect match, and so choices have to be made as to which nuance must be lost.

Very, very cool. And beyond this exercise, all of the are worth looking at.

Although admired throughout Europe for his myriad alter egos – the 72 highly distinct personae he assumed over the course of his writing life – it is Fernando Pessoa’s mellifluous writing on emptiness that continues to haunt my imagination each time I read him.

John Gray has argued, in his introductory essay on Pessoa, that these “heteronyms”, as Pessoa called them, demonstrate that the indvidual subject – the heart of western philosophy – is an illusion, which Pessoa’s heteronymous authorship undercuts. But I would still argue that Pessoa penetrates, more importantly, into the dark side of the human psyche in his posthumously published collection of fragments: The Book of Disquiet – his disconnected ode to emptiness written by his semi-pseudonymous creation Bernando Soares.

The purpose of this site is to draw out everything that comes from reading Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet. As the reading progresses, it will inform the content of this manifesto, which will – possibly – grow and change to reflect the effect of the book on its readers. While this may read as unnecessarily pretentious, in practice, as with the case of many blogs, the entries will reflect whatever reactions and thoughts the participants care to share, provided it centers on texts from The Book of Disquiet and does not digress too far from the source. Think of it as a blog from inside the text.