Worlds of Difference, Words of Equivalence: Pessoa's Prose Writings and the English-language Reader. On "The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa" by Fernando Pessoa
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: For many who still talk of greatness in literature, Fernando Pessoa is at least lour great poets.But will he ever be considered more than one great prosodist?L^ue in part to the comparative ease of translating and marketing prose fiction, Pessoa's recent canonization as a giant of world literature derives in large measure from the international impact of O Livro do Desassossego de Bernardo Soares, which an international writers' panel recently declared one of the "100 greatest books of all time."^EvenPessoa's greatest admirers might wonder, however, what readers outside his native land and language would make of the vast remainder of his prose, much of it still little read in Portugal.They will be delighted, perhaps even surprised, to discover what an elegant, well-proportioned and richly entertaining anthology Richard Zenith has fashioned from the supposed "also-rans" of the Pessoan catalogue.For many years one of Pessoa's most able ambassadors to the Anglophone world.Zenith has edited, translated and introduced a selection that, for three reasons, represents a watershed in the publication of Pessoa in English.First, the comprehensive range of Zenith's selections grants Anglophone readers unprece- dented insight into the full complexity of Fernando Pessoa's universe.Second, in addition to succinctly enlightening the reader who is unfamiliar with the Portuguese cultural context of Pessoa's work, the anthology also directs a spotlight at that work's interaction with, and continuing relevance to, English-lan- guage cultures.Finally, the volume, and Zenith's sensitive and imaginative English renderings, vindicate Pessoa in his many incarnations besides that of Bernardo Soares, as a prosodist of subtlety, power and versatility.Zenith's success in extracting so many memorable and nuanced passages from the generality of Pessoa's prose, and his emphasis on those texts' relationships with English letters, will make this anthology a delight and enhance
DOI: 10.62791/bbjsp305
Author: Mark Sabine
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4401250209