The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa (50 page)
Read The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa Online
Authors: Fernando Pessoa
page 162
Teixeira de Pascoaes and Guerra Junqueiro
: Two writers initially much admired by Pessoa, who became more critical of them as he got older. Pascoaes (1879–1952) was the leader of Portugal’s
Saudosista
movement, which promoted nostalgia as a literary and spiritual value. Guerra Junqueiro (1850–1923), extremely influential in his day, began as a satirical, anticlerical poet, but as time went on his verses became increasingly informed by a pantheistic mysticism.
page 164
Book of Revelation
:
Chapter 6
, verse 2: “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
page 166
King João IV:
The first king of the Bragança dynasty, who stepped onto the throne in 1640, marking the end of sixty years of Portuguese submission to Spanish rule.
page 167
THE ANARCHIST BANKER: It was in an undated letter sent to the editor of
Contemporânea
, the magazine where “The Anarchist Banker” had recently been published, that Pessoa referred to his story as a “dialectical satire.”
page 197
PESSOA ON MILLIONAIRES: The three fragments [138/22–26, 138A/7–8, 138A/9] were previously unpublished.
page 198
Mr.
Ford
(...)
reincarnation
: Henry Ford (1863–1947) told his interviewers that he came to believe in reincarnation when he was twenty-six years old.
would have been done in
: “would have been done too” in the original. Pessoa presumably left out the “in” after “done” because of the example of Portuguese, in which
feito
, meaning “done,” can also mean “done in,” with no added preposition.
page 199
a belief in reincarnation
: A reference to Henry Ford. See the penultimate note.
page 200
ENVIRONMENT: Published in 1927. The penultimate sentence,
Estar é set
, which is impossible to render adequately in English, affirms that what we take to be temporal, spatial being
(estar)
is in fact essential, true being
(ser)
.
page 201
[SELF-DEFINITION]: The actual heading on the manuscript is
Preface (use for “Shakespeare”?)
.
page 202
EROSTRATUS: The selection corresponds to Texts 2, 59, 37, 23, 33, 17, 50, 51, 63, and 54, in that order, from the complete, annotated edition of the essay published in
Heróstrato e a Busca da Imortalidade
. All of them were written in English.
page 205
Woman Clothed with the Sun
: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1). This description became the basis for representations of the Immaculate Conception in Renaissance painting.
page 206
properly speaking
: “properly such” in the original.
page 211
legitimate right
: “correct right” in the original.
page 212
Faguet said
(...)
posterity likes only concise writers
: Émile Faguet (1847–1916), when commenting on George Sand’s verbosity in his book
Dix-neuvième siècle: études littéraires
.
page 213
[
The Task of Modern Poetry]:
[139/28]. This and the following piece, “Shakespeare,” are previously unpublished passages written (in English) for a preface-in-progress to the five-poem “imperial cycle” described on p. 332, in the note about “Anteros.”
peoples as separate
: “peoples separate as far” in the original.
page 214
the Aeolian cave
: “the Aeolus’ cave” in the original.
[
which it behooves
]: “that is the province of in the original.
therefore
: “then” in the original.
page 215
Shakespeare:
[139/15]. Pessoa left many passages for a projected essay on Shakespeare,
but this passage, though it was titled “Shakespeare,” belongs to his unfinished preface to
Five Poems
. See the note to the preceding selection.
page 216
Shakespeare’s lack
(...)
is ordinary
: The original sentence reads, “The lack of sense of proportion, of sense of unity, of sense of development and interaction shown by Shakespeare are so extraordinary, as the fact that they happen to a Christian poet is an ordinary one.”
[
On Blank Verse and Paradise Lost
]: Pessoa labeled the manuscript copy “
Erostratus
(or the like).” It was published as Text 65 in
Heróstrato e a Busca da Imortalidade
.
“
Tithonus
,” or “
Ulysses
”
or
“
Oenone
”: All by Tennyson.
properly speaking
: “properly such” in the original.
page 217
Charles Dickens
—
Pickwick Papers
: The first four paragraphs, typed by Pessoa, were published in
Páginas de Estética
. The continuation of the text, written by hand on the reverse side of the typescript (19/97), was previously unpublished.
page 218
the two Wellers
: Sam Weller (Mr. Pickwick’s valet) and his father.
one-eyed bagman
: A character who appears in
Chapter 14
and again toward the end of the novel. A bagman was a traveling salesman, so called because he carried his samples in a bag.
Concerning Oscar Wilde
: None of Pessoa’s writings on Wilde has previously been published. The first of the four passages transcribed here [14E/69] carries the title “Concerning Oscar Wilde,” which appears on several lists of Pessoa’s planned and in-progress works. The other three passages [14E/73, 55I/89, 55I/94] were labeled “Oscar Wilde.” Pessoa’s horoscope and biographical chronology for Wilde are in notebook 144Y.
page 220
he had begun
(...)
have been able
: “he began with pictures, he will never be able” in the original.
page 221
unconscious
: “conscious” in the original, presumably by mistake.
lack of purpose
: “dispurposedness” in the original.
page 222
[
The Art of James Joyce
]: Translated from an unpublished note [14
4
/70]. Pessoa owned the 1932 Hamburg edition of
Ulysses
.
[
The Art of Translation
]: First published in
Pessoa Inédito
.
involved in parodying
: “involved in translating” on the original typescript, presumably by mistake.
the other case a certain
: “the other one” in the original.
page 224
ESSAY ON POETRY: Envelope 100 of the Pessoa archives contains two typed copies of the long opening section (published in
Pessoa por Conhecer
). The transcription is of the second, cleaner but incomplete copy for as far as it goes, switching at that point to the earlier one. The other sections (beginning with “I now pass on”) were previously unpublished and have been transcribed from autographs found in Envelope 13A. Written at different times and not collated by Pessoa, the essay’s various pieces (most but not all of which are included here) have been ordered on the basis of internal evidence.
page 226
expounding
: “exposing” in the original.
page 227
Spencer
: Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), the English philosopher. Professor Jones is apparently not familiar with Edmund Spenser the poet.
page 228
but
: “only that” in the original.
page 230
long and pointed ears
: “a long and pointed ear” in the original.
page 231
FRANCE IN 1950: The first and last passages [138A/2,138A/1] were published, in French, in
Pessoa por Conhecer
. The three middle passages [55E/87, 133F/38, 55E/86] have not previously been published. The essay, retitled “La France a I’an 2000,” was scheduled to appear in the second issue of
Europa
[144D
2
/42]. The narrator of the piece was identified as Japanese not only in a “List of Publications” [48B/66] but also in a list of pamphlets to be published [144D
2
/6]. Another pamphlet on this latter list was titled “On the Necessity of Creating Male Whorehouses.”
page 234
RANDOM NOTES AND EPIGRAMS: Archival references and published sources: (1) 133E/84, (2) 133E/83, (3) 75A/22, (4) 93/88V., (5) 26C/21, (6) 92D/3, (7) 21/119 (published in
Páginas Íntimas)
, (8) 15B
3
/86 (Text 21 in
The Book of Disquiet)
, (9) 22/95 (published in
Textos Filosóficos
, v. I, but the translation is based on a different reading of the original), (10) 133F/55, (11) 15
4
2, (12) 75A/28, (13) 133E/91, (14) 144D
2
/32 (last sentence published in
Pessoa por Conhecer)
, (15) 20/68 (published in
Páginas Íntimas)
, (16) 75/23, (17) 14
5
/30, (18) 134A/46.
Item 2 was written on an envelope postmarked in Madrid in 1923, and item 8 was dated March 24, 1929.
page 239
TWO LETTERS TO JOÃO GASPAR SIMÕES: The first letter contains a P.S. not translated here.
“
Hymn to Pan
”: A poem by Aleister Crowley. See the note for Crowley on p. 329.
page 240
your article about me
: Originally published in
Presença
under the title “Fernando Pessoa and the Voices of Innocence.”
page 242
Café Brasileira ofChiado
: A Lisbon café popular among intellectuals, including Pessoa. See the note on p. 330.
page 245
“O
church bell of my village
...”: One of the first two poems published by Pessoa as an adult, in 1914.
Directory of the Republic
: The leadership of the Portuguese Republican Party, which controlled the provisional government of the young republic, established in 1910.
page 247
Figueira
: Figueira da Foz, a fishing village and beach resort where residents of Coimbra often spend their holidays.
page 248
Portugal,
a small book of poems
: The book Pessoa published in 1934 as
Message
, with forty-four poems.
page 252
a Leader or Chief
: Pessoa employed the Portuguese word
chefe
, whose pronunciation is virtually identical to the French
chef
.
rational Sebastianist
: See the section P
ORTUGAL AND THE
F
IFTH
E
MPIRE
.
prize offered by the National Office of Propaganda
: Pessoa won second prize, apparently because his book did not meet the required length of one hundred pages.
page 256
“
Slanting Rain
”: See note on p. 322.
“
Triumphal Ode
”: See note on p. 322.
page 257
“
Opiary
”: See note on p. 322.
page 258
Ferreira Gomes
: Augusto Ferreira Gomes (1892–1953), a long-standing friend of Pessoa, shared his interest in astrology and the occult sciences.
page 260
“
Eros and Psyche
”: “Eros e Psique,” published in the May 1934 issue
oiPresenga
. The epigraph in question reads: “... And so you see, my Brother, that the truths you received at the Neophyte stage and those you received at the Adept stage are, even if contrary, the same Truth.”
page 261
[
Another Version of the Genesis of the Heteronyms
]: The original Portuguese text [20/74–7] contains an unfinished sentence, not translated here, that addresses a potential audience of readers. This suggests that the passage was intended for a general preface to Pessoa’s works.
page 272
Vigny
: Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), French author of poems, essays, plays, and a novel. Disillusioned in love, unsuccessful in politics, and unenthusiastically received by the French Academy, he withdrew from society and became increasingly pessimistic in his writings, which recommended stoical resignation as the only noble response to the suffering life condemns us to.
page 277
Vieira
: Father António Vieira (1608–97), who spent much of his life in Brazil, is one of the greatest prose stylists in Portuguese. His enormous output includes about two hundred sermons and over five hundred letters. (See the introduction to P
ORTUGAL AND THE
F
IFTH
E
MPIRE
.)
