Man I almost hesitate to reveal this but I did some time in LA county jail and one of the only people I got along with had a copy of this book. He left it with me and after reading it I went back to it anytime I felt like I was going to crumble under the pressure in there. The passages flowed like silk through the dry caverns of my hollow mind. In a place cold and oppressive, Pessoa brought me outside of the walls by gnawing at the pulp of my soul. I felt understood.
Pessoa helped me in times of sorrow, but your story relates to mine in the terms of my stay in a psycho ward after one of my suicide atempts, in my case was dostoyevski´s work that elevated me behind that place and gave me wings to fly into the sun, maybe to close. Being portuguese we study pessoa´s work, but we don´t really read it until we are prepared to live the "fado" of live. Literature is saving my life day by day. Thanks for your story!
If there is one thing I'm grateful for having been born in Brasil is that I can read Pessoa, Saramago, Clarice Lispector, Guimarães Rosa, Valter Hugo Mãe and tons of other great writers in this beautiful mother tongue of mine...
I'm a native Spanish speaker who studied linguistics, also French from an early age and I can say that am as well equipped to read your great Literature exponents in Portuguese. :P
Because of your recommendation, I bought The Book of Disquiet, and A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe, a collection of Pessoa’s poetry. Then I got a flight over to Lisbon, visited Pessoa’s home (which is now a gorgeous wee museum and library) and walked the streets, composing a few bits of poetry. I also sat and drank a coke in his favourite Cafe. Sadly, never got to Sintra, but I’ll be going back. Thanks for that, Mr Sargent. Andrew.
We have many great poets. Unfortunately they tend to be better known in Portugal, Brazil, the Portuguese language countries and by those more interested about Portuguese literature. Here is my pick: 1. Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) 2. José Régio (1901-1969) 3. Mário de Sá-Carneiro (1890-1916) 4. Jorge de Sena (1919-1978) All of them deserved to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, but I think José Régio and Jorge de Sena were the only nominated.
I read this book sparingly, mostly because it's too good to finish in one go. So I savor it and carry it with me only when I'm travelling. Another reason is that Pessoa's thoughts rattle me to the core. Some of his entries ring so true to my identity, that I often feel unreal; as if I have been imagined by Pessoa himself. The Book of Disquiet is aptly named. I will, no doubt, be reading it over and over again for years to come.
I felt the same when reading it. Pessoa's writing and thoughts made me question my reality, and it literally made me depressed, that I had to read something zany, and humorous on the side to sort of balance out my reading experience. This book is not for the faint of heart.
I had to sift through a sea of young booktubers reviewing Twilight and other YA fantasy to finally find someone with Marquis de Sade on his desk. Great book, interesting video. Definitely subscribed.
BookTube is a platform for everybody.And, because of these young BookTubers who read/review YA fiction we have now BookTube as a Community. And as a BookTuber who read Pessoa i am grateful for them.
I found this book in a bookshop today. opened it on three separate pages on complete random and read 1 sentence from each- That was all I needed to know that I not only have to read this book but that everyone should read it.
I know Pessoa mainly as a poet. I still haven't read The Book of Disquiet, this review reminded me to finally go for it. If you want to read some of Pessoa's fantastic poetry, I recommend you get this selection: Fernando Pessoa & Co. Selected Poems. Translated by Richard Zenith. Published by Grove Pr. It's one of my most praised books. I've been reading and re-reading it for years. Here's one he wrote as Fernando Pessoa: I'm sorry I don't respond But it isn't, after all, my fault That I don't correspond To the other you loved in me. Each of us is many persons. To me I'm who I think I am, But others see me differently And are equally mistaken. Don't dream me into someone else But leave me alone, in peace! If I don't want to find myself, Should I want others to find me?
9 лет назад
As a portuguese, it makes me so happy when people talk about Fernando Pessoa. I love Sintra :) Love your videos. Keep doing them if you can!
@@arthurplatinnifernandesgue1795 Como assim? A obra dele, embora seja universal, está tão entrelaçada com o seu país que seria impossível não saberem que Pessoa é português.
@@arthurplatinnifernandesgue1795 Incorrer no erro de pensar que Pessoa era brasileiro continua a ser uma grosseria; um "brasileiro" que não escreveu quase nada sobre o Brasil.
Great review. Actually, Fernando Pessoa only published a single book during his lifetime ("Message") in 1934, just one year before he died. He had been publishing some of his poems in magazines, like the pivotal modernist journal "Orpheu". All the rest has been posthumously published, from the exhumation of the 25.000 handwritten pages included in the 3 famous trunks. The Book of Disquiet is not really a book. There aren't any indications left by Pessoa about its intended sequence and structure, only the hints left by Bernardo Soares and Vicente Guedes semi-heteronyms. It was first published in 1982 and there are still editoral wars concerning which edition reflects a more coherent take on assembling the fragments. Anyway, since there are no starting nor ending point, you may read it randomly. Its a disturbing, deep, chaotic and beautiful work of of art. Pretty much like Pessoa's universe was.
If you liked the "book of disquiet" I would leave you a suggestion. There is a prodigious writer who will be, after her death, a cult author. This writer is Agustina Bess-Luís. She managed to create a new, unique, writing where she combines the aphorism and a torrential narrative about the nature of their characters. In her narrative she reveals unsettling truths and a psychological analysis of an acuity taken to extremes. She is an extremely ironic author, who goes unnoticed in the media because she inspires fear. She reveals truths in her books about human nature that are taken as coming from a wicked, dangerous and prophetic women. This partly explains why people are resisting in reading her books. She is ahead of its time, but it is indisputable that she will be part of the great authors, time will tell. Maybe she will gain the Nobel Prize, who knows?! before she dies. Their main influences are Dostoyevsky, Soren Kierkegaard and Kafka. Her most translated and known book is “the Sibyl”. In her books she covers everything, power, sex, humiliation, vanity, hatred in a powerful and disconcerting way.
Justin Case noooooo. I did not enjoy that book, at all. To be fair, I was 14 or 15 when I had to read it (for school), maybe if I read it now I might enjoy it but Portuguese literature has so much to offer... I prefer Saramago!!
She is the greatest writer I have ever come across and I say that as an English speaker/reader who has had to hunt high and low for years to find what little of her work I could that has actually been translated into English. One of the most consistent oversights in all of translation, especially as she has been translated into so many other languages. Yet I try to console myself by remembering that it took almost 500 years to get an English translation of Bernardim Ribeiro's classic work "Menina e moça" (aka "Maiden and Modest"), so I guess she hasn't been all that badly neglected after all. Anyway, until there are some substantial English translations of Agustina (something I gather which is actually and finally being worked on) I would recommend that Cliff takes up the recently translated "Geography of Rebels" trilogy, the magnum opus of the similarly great Maria Gabriela Llansol.
I remember how my mind was blow in HS when I learned about Fernando Pessoa, I couldn't comprehend how someone could create such complex personalities and styles. Alberto Carneiro is my favourite persona of his and I recommend you give it a go.
Fernando Pessoa it's one of my favorite authors, and it is so satisfying to see you speaking about him in a way that shows that you actually research about it. Fernando Pessoa have not just write precious books and poems, but had a life that makes everything else even more surreal! Thank you so much for the video, your channel it's now one of me favorites, I love how u express yourself! Great job ❤️
Thank you for sharing the works of Fernando Pessoa. I’ve only recently found him myself and it’s been mesmerizing. “ I’m not rich enough to be a dreamer thus I always feel like I’m on the verge of waking up”
I just found your channel, this is the second video I've watched and made me subscribe. Being portuguese I was always aware of Pessoa's existence and studied some of his poetry in school.. Álvaro de Campos is my favorite of his heteronyms. Last year I've read The Book of Disquiet and I have been telling everyone to read it. As you said, it's the most beautiful sad book I've ever read. It's the only book I couldn't stop underlining and marking the pages. Your review makes me want to read it again.
ive read it in parts several times, it dosent have a beginning or ending so you can start reading it at the end and go back, it has a kafka feel to it, and its a experience to think about for sure.
As a result of your review I picked this up and was totally blown away by it! Thanks so much for the recommendation. I just wrapped up a book chat and didn't forget to give you credit for introducing me to this work of genius :) Thanks again!
Interesting review.... I just got my copy on Amazon for my Kindle Oasis.... I read a bit, then I have to put it down, as Fernando Pessoa's mind is so much to digest. My brain can't take it for too long, then after awhile, I go back to it... hauntingly beautifully thought out and written...xo
What a delight finding this channel. As a Brazilian, it's nice to see Pessoa is that known and admired outside of the Lusosphere. I actually have the book on my shelf, never got the courage to open it. Will do now.
This might be my favorite review yet. I identified so much with the passages you read that it's quite worrying actually... I've never read anything by Pessoa but I will definitely get this one now.
Thank you for this beautiful review! To be honest i've never had a favorite author or a book but after reading just a few pages of this book i was mesmerized, i love this book so much.
Pessoa was so complex that thru his words and different 'selves' each one of us, humanity, is laid bare, revealed, and reborn. The man was simply put, a literary genius!
I'm brazilian and I've been reading this book for years. I haven't finish it yet but I also have got back tons of time to pages and quotes that are remarkable for me. Fernando Pessoa is my favorite author and this is my favorite book, for sure.
That's the look of a man that have is first awareness of the Book of Disquiet. If this is a book (maybe it's not even a book, it's some strange piece of art with only one specimen), it's most than likely the best book ever writen. But you can't even compare it with any book. It's something diferent
best channel about literature in the plataform. thank you so much. extra thanks for doing real reviews, with criticism, ideas, reflections. you bring worldwide literature, and i love your special care for autors like clarice lispector and fernando pessoa, people need to read them more. also love that you bring the feelings of the books to your behavior in the video, just as you did in this one. you have a very hard supporter here. please keep doing it! books and coffee for life!
Hey man I just wanted to thank you so much for this recommendation because without it, who knows how long it would have taken for me to have known about it's existence. I was having a hard time deciding what 2 audiobooks to download for free for my audible trial and combing through your channel I remembered being highly interested and intrigued by Book of Disquiet, and Pessoa as a writer in general. So I grabbed The Book of Disquiet and man, so far it's been super thought-provoking, altogether very funny, very perceptive, sometimes heartbreaking but not overly dramatic on the sadness. He can have you laughing out loud from sheer observational finesse, then the next "entry" is a punch to your heart, him writing about the very early loss of both his mother and father. It's pretty incredible how engaging the writing is considering it's mostly just the inner musings of a man writing about going to work as a bookkeeper, coming home and writing, visiting a café occassionally. His observations on just the plain condition of existence, of being an "existing animal", the tensions and give-and-take, the imperfections and constantly shifting mood and feelings about things. I get the feeling this is the introvert's bible lol. Either way, I'm enjoying it especially as this is my first go at listening to an entire audioook. The only downside so far with the medium of an audiobook is that I will go on a thought tangent about a concept while listening, and as a result miss a bunch of sentences completely. So that's kind of a bummer because with a book I can easily just take a pause and think about whatever, then return to where I stopped. But other than that, it's certainly allowing me to have a vivid image painted to me, it's kinda nice to have a story read to you. Anyway, onward I tread. Thanks for all the hard work my friend!
I'm Portuguese, grew up, live and work in Sintra and studied in Lisbon. Thank you for talking about one of my country's national treasures :) I'm new to your channel, so I don't know if your familiar with Camões, but if you liked Pessoa, try reading his "Mensagem" in parallel with Camões' Os Lusíadas. Its something we study in highschool here, and I find quite interesting.
Its great, I love hiking in the woods which is a great way for burning the calories from all the pastries we have here :) And as you mention Sintra is full of literary references: Lord Byron, Milton, H. C. Andersen, Camões, Dante, Eça de Queirós. This time of the year, which is the low-season tourism wise, all the kids are doing field-trips to the palaces and places they read about at school. We have this fountain at the edge of town called Fonte da Sabuga which, according to legend, if you drink from it, you'll never want to leave Sintra. I don't know if someday i'll move out, but i have drank from it...
João Varanda All it took for me was getting lost under Quinta de regaleira and I was infatuated (ginja at Byron’s bar helped). Yes, your food is astounding. Would you meet up and show us around when we return?
I heard of Pessoa some time ago. It wasn't until I found an edition of The Book of Disquiet mis-shelved in a local book store that I made the purchase and went home to read. Thank you for, at the very least, indicating through your review that I am not alone in my confusion and fascination with this staggering and oblique genius.
hey... you consistently review books that have formed my image of the world. This is intended as a celebration of your taste. From a fellow reader. cheers!
One of his poems appeared on the portuguese national exam this year, and I was incredibly relieved that it ended up being from Alberto Caero since he was the one I was the most familiarized with. Had it been from any of his other heteronyms I'm positive it wouldn't have gone as smoothly.
Another great review! Here are some recommendations: The Catcher in the Rye, Quiet Days at Clichy, Fight Club, The Stranger, The Dharma Bums. Keep up the good work (please)
Keep up the good job man, I love your videos. You are the only book reviewer on RU-vid I know of who reviews good books and isn't pretentious about it. I'd recommend you 'A personal matter' by Kenzaburo Oe.
this is the first video of yours that I've watched (about to watch one of your more recent videos on Rachel Cusk because I loved Outline, & then will see where the night takes me), but i'm already jumping to Patreon to become a patron. regarding The Book of Disquiet, I noticed you read the Penguin Classics edition (translated & edited by Richard Zenith). have you read the New Directions edition (translated by Margaret Jull Costa, edited by Jeronimo Pizarro) since this video? outside of the obvious discrepancies typically found in a translator's intentions & style, the ND edition attempts to piece together Pessoa's fragments in chronological order. I just ordered the Zenith version & plan on reading that one as soon as next week, despite finishing the Jull Costa/Pizarro version just the other day. you weren't joking about finishing it & then starting back at page one. the winter months are always a difficult time for me (total cliche, I know), but Pessoa cut right into my vulnerable core & wrapped me up within his tendrils in a way that felt as though I had a reliable confidant, always just an arm's length away, who could understand many of the same internal/external struggles I have been experiencing, except w/ the ability to atomize them in a language that made me feel warmth rather than augment the oppressing cold. even before finishing the novel I've been trying to impress on my few friends that The Book of Disquiet is the best masterpiece they've never heard of. looking forward to comparing the Jull Costa/Pizarro & Zenith versions.
I'm portuguese and i'm studying Pessoa. This was the best review that i've seen to this masterpiece. I don't Know if you ha've read one Álvaro de Campos, one of Pessoa's "personas", if you don't Please do, it's sublime.
Really hope you kept up the meditation, whatever form you do it in. Once you get comfortably skilled at it, man oh man, a full hour of meditation can put me in a sharp, golden state of mind full of resilience, calm, tranquility, quick wit, and contentedness for a whole damn week. It truly is one of the greatest tools for mental health currently known, I would say with great confidence. Also you've made me want to read this book so damn bad but I can't find it locally, I guess I'll have to order it off Amazon.
The full John Waters quote. Genius, Mr S. I was given the colorful covered hardback for this past year's Birthday, on 23 December, and absolutely LOVE the book and 'review'.
This book changed my life. "Vivir es ser otro", which from spanish to english, I think it translates to: "To live, is to be another". It was remarkable to me to feel such a lonely person be so willing to be in another's conscience, to be able to be others just seeing. He embodied empathy without considering himself a man that took action. I would recommend his ode "Salute to Walt Whitman", which Pessoa signed with the Heteronym Alberto Caeiro. Pessoa, considered Whitman to be the person who freed him in his early days as as writer, especially when he had an epiphany reading Whitman's words: "Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes)".
Great review. i would love to get into other of Pessoa's work , especially his other heteronyms. Have you Read Stoner by Williams? there's another artist when it comes to writing.
I'm so happy I found this review! Its one of my favorite books too. And I'll recommend you two related books: Pessoa's short story "The Anarchist Banker" (it's subversive and funny), and Saramago's "The Year Of The Death Of Ricardo Reis", in wich Saramago invents the story of Pessoa's heteronym Ricardo Reis, as if we was a real person who knew Fernando Pessoa. It's melancholic and beautiful.
As far as I remember from my teen years reading Pessoa, most of his bitterness came to be after his wife and kid died of Spanish flu in a final sequence that threw his soul into complete loneliness and sorrow. Btw, I was so happy that I found him in my teen years and also we share the same favourite dishes, the "dobrada" literally stomach of beef stew. Ps: I am writing from my wife's account, I am Brazilian and was blissed to read Pessoa in the original
Love from Portugal. I really enjoyed your review of our greatest poet. If you want to read more portuguese authors I recommend José Saramago, our only Nobel prize winner. Some of his books require knowledge of portuguese culture and literature to fully understand. But book like Blindness or Death with Interruptions are incredible and I think you would like them. I personally love them. Congrats for this amazing channel. Sorry if my English isn't the best.
Happened upon this vid somewhat randomly tonight here in Mesopotamia while reading Antonio Lobo Antune's The Natural Order of Things, which Richard Zenith translated & who as well speaks passionately about Pessoa. Great vibe!
Hey, I just discovered your channel and subscribed to it right away. Great reviews! I hope you keep it up. I'm glad that there's at least one book reviewer who can actually say something interesting and insightful about all of these great books and doesn't only read young adult/generic disposable bestseller sagas like all the other people on RU-vid. I'm currently reading John Fante's The Wine of Youth and I'm quite enjoying it. I'm also glad that you read books from authors from outside the English-speaking world; one of my main complaints about English-speaking book reviewers is that often they disregard translations as if there were no good authors outside of the USA or the UK. I'd like to recommend you Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo - probably the best Mexican novel of all time. If you have already read that, you should check out Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli - in my opinion, the most interesting mexican novelist alive as of today. They're both rather short but incredible books. Cheers from Mexico City!
Battshit Crazy I read The Book of Disquiet a few months ago and was absolutely blown away by it. I still haven't read his poetry, though; I've heard it's great too.
Javier Torres fante is great... his poetry is... great. pessoa is from kafkas generation, they all got inspired by the philosophy masters, pessoa lived in Mozambique and south africa so he read all the english german classics... the most amazing thing about the book of disquiet is you can pick it at any time, any page and start Reading and its like a horoscope its teaches you something, try it, it will always seem new, like you never had read the book before, pessoa was a mistic obcessed with astrology, horoscopes, occultism, etc he was friend with aleister crowley, he even came to lisbon to meet pessoa and do a occult black magic mass session... for example i opened the book now and it reads: ''art consists in making others feel what we feel, in releasing them from themselves, proposing our personality for that special release...''
Battshit Crazy I had never thought about reading it that way but it is a great suggestion; I already have the bad habit of reading my horoscope compulsively every time I find a magazine that may include it... might as well replace it with reading from The Book of Disquiet. Normally I prefer reading a book over watching a movie, but I do watch some every now and then. I'll check it out, man. Thanks!
Congratulations on your courage to read this book. As a native (Brazilian) Portuguese speaker, I know he is incredibly complex in my native tongue, not to say in another language.
There's nothing quite like writing something profound while thinking to yourself, "I have no idea what I'm saying." I must get this book ... and maybe pull my trunk full of old manuscripts and writings out of my closet? Perhaps it's time to fill it with new scribblings.
I'm thrilled that you rewied a book by a portuguese author Cliff.So may I suggest you another one? Valter Hugo Mãe is a personal favourite of mine. Keep the great work. (Sorry for the poor english, it's not my first language.)
I've always avoided book reviews, as the ones I've read before all seemed miles apart from what I felt while reading the books, and I could never personally identify to the way most critics have of perceiving them. It seemed to me they were always trying too hard to interpret and were always almost too shy to dare to feel the damn books. Now, back to the school bench, and studying Literature in French, I had to adapt to their way of doing "commentaires composés", and your reviews have been incredibly helpful and insightful, and a great way to start tackling books under a new perspective (even if doing so in English may be kind of cheating). I cannot thank you enough, not only for reconciling me with book reviews, but by also helping me write better commentaires composés. A review on The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, by Saramago, maybe? That'd be almost annoyingly awesome.
I can't quite recall how I came across Pessoa years ago but he captured my imagination as did Marquez years before that. I haven't finished the Book of Disquiet yet. It lies there waiting for me. Think I'll get back to it now.
+Morsoculi They're definitely on the list, thank you for the reminder, yes I was trying to figure out a method of dog earring the entire book as well, thanks for watching.
+Better Than Food: Book Reviews I'm happy because you answered. I like the way you talk about Pessoa, sounds intimate. At last I recommend you, if you haven't seen that yet, The film of disquiet, by Joao Botelho (it's on RU-vid) the virtue of the film in my perspective, is to diseminate the fragments of the book around many simple situations, as if the end of the world would happen in a common Lunch, or in beggars dialogues. Also the projections of the thoughts in Soares house (I'm sorry if I have mistakes but Spanish is my native language).
Do you have any plans to read/review The Man Without Qualities? It's been catching my eye for a while, and I bought it recently knowing little about it other than the boast of the Wall Street Journal on the front: "Here it is-- at last, at last -- the fully fleshed arrival, in English, of the third member of the trinity in 20th-century literature, complementing Ulysses and Remembrance of Things Past." Now, that just sounds promising.
Consider me proof of success because those were some wonderful passages. And the length of the review is justified simply by that alone. Not enough people are willing to make enough nonsense over books these days. Well, that's extreme statement. But very happy to know about Fernando Pessoa and Book of Disquiet, thank you.
This book is quiet something to read. Sometimes I am reading one of his passages, and I don't understand him at all. That means I cannot even agree or disagree but around some of his thoughts, I feel like able to discuss with him, when the actual pleasure starts. I will certainly, during my whole life always read into this book of his thoughts here and then, because only then I feel like getting the best out of it
Enjoyed the review immensely. I am only 70 pages in to this extraordinary work but already I feel like this Pessoa is beyond the realm of genius. I have a week off which I've decided to use purely to read. I think - and I'm glad you mentioned something like this - I might intersperse reading this with something else (Martin Duberman's Jews Queers Germans) which is a much more surface work (well, it's a - as the book calls itself - 'novel/history'). This is not something I would ever normally do. Submerging oneself into a book is always the aim but, having had to mutlitask at university on my Comparative Literature degree, I realised one can truly do it. What are you thoughts about reading more than one book at a time - especially when it's something so profound as Pessoa?
Great review ! This is definitely going on my reading list . Would you interested in reviewing anything from Junot Diaz ? I would pick up The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. This how you lose her is also a great read .
+P. Livianos 1. sit comfortably in a chair with no noise and little distractions - ear plugs are helpful. Set your phone/clock/alarm for 15 or 20 minutes. 2. Close your eyes and focus on repeating a word or phrase you like that seems appropriate. 3. Don't open your eyes until the alarm goes off. See where you go. Good luck.
That's so simple man! And you really look in peace with yourself... The review was great, i didn't expect less. When i had time and money i'll run to buy this book so thank you. Have you thought about a Savage Detectives review?
Tudo o que não é meu, por baixo que seja, teve sempre poesia para mim. Nunca amei senão coisa nenhuma. Nunca desejei senão o que nem podia imaginar. À vida nunca pedi senão que passasse por mim sem que eu a sentisse. Do amor apenas exigi que nunca deixasse de ser um sonho longínquo.
You are a really good reader of Pessoa because you know there is a large degree of fraud in our daily affairs. And you just let it play through your thoughts like, maybe, music on the radio. No harm done. I enjoyed every second of this review.
