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Dreams of Ourselves: An Appreciation of Pessoa
Exclusive novellas and stories by Quentin S. Crisp, Jonathan Wood, Mark Valentine, Adam S. Cantwell,
Colin Insole, John Howard, Avalon Brantley, Damian Murphy, Rhys Hughes, Andrew Condous and D.P. Watt!
All stories are published under Pessoa heteronyms, chosen by the authors themselves. In other words, you will have to guess which story is written by Quentin Crisp and which by Colin Insole, for example.
For those not in mood of playing games, at the end of the book there is a sealed black envelope. You open it and inside you will find the key to the puzzle, a page of fine paper with the real names of the writers and their stories.
That Nothing Human Scorn by Raphael Baldaya
Petseta by Sebastian Knight
We Are All Words by Burton Donald-Wickham Hallam
The Apostatical Ascetic by Alexander Search
A Body of Nostalgia with a Soul of Foam by Unknown
Le Panopticon de le Chevalier de Pas by Chevalier de Pas
Mr. S and Doctor S. by Horace James Faber
The Man We All Imagined I Might Have Been by Emmanuel Golding
A Sea Sorrow in Triptych by A.A. Crosse
The Sublime Voyage of Ariana Aragão by Efbeedee Pasha
Under Different Stars by Navas
The book features stunning artwork by Richard Skelton of Corbel Stone Press!
Limited to 140 numbered exemplars of which 110 copies only are for sale, 286 pages lithographically printed, hand-sewn cloth binding, dustjacket, silk bookmark, illustrated endpapers, color frontispiece.
Colin Insole, John Howard, Avalon Brantley, Damian Murphy, Rhys Hughes, Andrew Condous and D.P. Watt!
All stories are published under Pessoa heteronyms, chosen by the authors themselves. In other words, you will have to guess which story is written by Quentin Crisp and which by Colin Insole, for example.
For those not in mood of playing games, at the end of the book there is a sealed black envelope. You open it and inside you will find the key to the puzzle, a page of fine paper with the real names of the writers and their stories.
That Nothing Human Scorn by Raphael Baldaya
Petseta by Sebastian Knight
We Are All Words by Burton Donald-Wickham Hallam
The Apostatical Ascetic by Alexander Search
A Body of Nostalgia with a Soul of Foam by Unknown
Le Panopticon de le Chevalier de Pas by Chevalier de Pas
Mr. S and Doctor S. by Horace James Faber
The Man We All Imagined I Might Have Been by Emmanuel Golding
A Sea Sorrow in Triptych by A.A. Crosse
The Sublime Voyage of Ariana Aragão by Efbeedee Pasha
Under Different Stars by Navas
The book features stunning artwork by Richard Skelton of Corbel Stone Press!
Limited to 140 numbered exemplars of which 110 copies only are for sale, 286 pages lithographically printed, hand-sewn cloth binding, dustjacket, silk bookmark, illustrated endpapers, color frontispiece.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 29, 2014
This was an exquisite tribute anthology to Pessoa, a true feast for both the senses as well as the psyche. And I confess: I did unseal the little black envelope that revealed the true identities of all the heteronyms, but not until I finished reading all the stories. As I was reading, I marked down which author I thought had written each story, and then compared my guesses with the truth. A few I was certain of right from the start, due to very distinct writing styles, a few stumped me, and a couple that I was sure I had guessed correctly turned out to be by different writers. All in all I guessed seven out of the eleven correctly. I was hoping for a higher score, but I know that's silly. I wish I could have resisted the temptation to seek out the contents of that little black envelope, but alas, like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything but temptation!
July 25, 2015
Not a review, but just to say that as themed multi-author anthologies go this one is of the first water...
I bought it on a whim last December to celebrate getting a new job with the expectation that said job would allow me to treat myself with such things every now and then... as it happens I'm as skint as ever and have had to curtail all but the most essential of small press purchases ever since. So this book was a luxury, but one that has turned out to be an essential luxury in more ways than one...
I must admit that while the line up of authors was a lure, I was even more enticed by the fact that they were all writing under pseudonyms - their true identities hidden in an envelope for the curious...
I was of course curious and peaked in the envelope after I had finished... and was delighted to see that of the authors I knew (7 out of 11) I got all but one right! I think that is a testament to the unique writing of the authors who are writing for the small presses today! The only author that I got wrong was Dan P. Watt, who's highly humourous tale really caught me out!!!
Of the authors who are new to me I think Jonathan Wood's tale really stood out and I suspect that I might have to see what else he has written in the not to distant future. Indeed only two of the tales weren't entirely to my taste, although even here they both had their moments of really quite fine writing, so I didn't feel my time was wasted at all.
As for how well this anthology reflects its theme: an appreciation of Pessoa, I cannot say for I have never read him... If Pessoa's writings explore memory and identity then I suspect that this anthology shows its appreciation quite well. It certainly has inspired me to read Pessoa sometime soon.
Overall, this is a beautiful book full of beautiful writing and for those plucky few who have a total disregard for money and a lust for beautiful books that is beyond reason this book will be as fine a book as you have read.
I bought it on a whim last December to celebrate getting a new job with the expectation that said job would allow me to treat myself with such things every now and then... as it happens I'm as skint as ever and have had to curtail all but the most essential of small press purchases ever since. So this book was a luxury, but one that has turned out to be an essential luxury in more ways than one...
I must admit that while the line up of authors was a lure, I was even more enticed by the fact that they were all writing under pseudonyms - their true identities hidden in an envelope for the curious...
I was of course curious and peaked in the envelope after I had finished... and was delighted to see that of the authors I knew (7 out of 11) I got all but one right! I think that is a testament to the unique writing of the authors who are writing for the small presses today! The only author that I got wrong was Dan P. Watt, who's highly humourous tale really caught me out!!!
Of the authors who are new to me I think Jonathan Wood's tale really stood out and I suspect that I might have to see what else he has written in the not to distant future. Indeed only two of the tales weren't entirely to my taste, although even here they both had their moments of really quite fine writing, so I didn't feel my time was wasted at all.
As for how well this anthology reflects its theme: an appreciation of Pessoa, I cannot say for I have never read him... If Pessoa's writings explore memory and identity then I suspect that this anthology shows its appreciation quite well. It certainly has inspired me to read Pessoa sometime soon.
Overall, this is a beautiful book full of beautiful writing and for those plucky few who have a total disregard for money and a lust for beautiful books that is beyond reason this book will be as fine a book as you have read.
February 22, 2019
I greatly enjoyed this tribute anthology to Fernando Pessoa. I think this is now my 4th or 5th tribute anthology put out by Ex Occidente/(and in this case Zagava)... all of them have been outstanding. Unlike the others I have read, this one had a fun little game that the reader could play. While you know up front which authors contributed to this anthology, all of the author's used a Pessoan heteronym, so you were left guessing based on your previous knowledge and reading of each author.
As it so happens... of the 11 stories here and their obfuscated authorship, I was able to correctly discern all 11 authors for each of the stories (mind you I was reading this with a friend, so we put our heads together on these). The Insole, Howard, Murphy, Hughes and Crisp were the easiest to pick out... given their such distinct writing styles. The others fell in place as I read all of the stories. I think the hardest for me to identify were the Condous and Cantwell pieces... but via process of elimination, those revealed themselves as well.
While I have not read much Pessoa, these stories seemed to fit nicely together in this collection, I'm really impressed by the overall selections. I won't ruin things for future readers and identify the specific stories, but I can safely say that I have a few clear favorites from this anthology. The jewel of this collection is the Insole piece... really poignant... heartbreaking. Other amazing standouts were contributions from Damian Murphy, John Howard, and Quentin Crisp.
The Wood piece was not an easy read... and I think I am still digesting it. Much like many of his other Ex Occ contributions, his writing style is a bit opaque, and it takes a fair amount of effort by the reader to follow the many threads of his thought. This one was challenging and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but, I'm pretty sure at this point I did enjoy it. The guy can really write... but I still find it a struggle to situate myself in the narrative. Sometimes his words just flow over my brain and I end up grasping at distorted echoes of abstract ideas and flutterings of thought. Definitely worth the effort though...
Whether you are a Pessoa fan or not, this is an outstanding collection of amazing writers and their outstanding contributions. It may still be available from Zagava at this point... and it is not going to come cheap... but if you got it... this one is definitely worth it.
As it so happens... of the 11 stories here and their obfuscated authorship, I was able to correctly discern all 11 authors for each of the stories (mind you I was reading this with a friend, so we put our heads together on these). The Insole, Howard, Murphy, Hughes and Crisp were the easiest to pick out... given their such distinct writing styles. The others fell in place as I read all of the stories. I think the hardest for me to identify were the Condous and Cantwell pieces... but via process of elimination, those revealed themselves as well.
While I have not read much Pessoa, these stories seemed to fit nicely together in this collection, I'm really impressed by the overall selections. I won't ruin things for future readers and identify the specific stories, but I can safely say that I have a few clear favorites from this anthology. The jewel of this collection is the Insole piece... really poignant... heartbreaking. Other amazing standouts were contributions from Damian Murphy, John Howard, and Quentin Crisp.
The Wood piece was not an easy read... and I think I am still digesting it. Much like many of his other Ex Occ contributions, his writing style is a bit opaque, and it takes a fair amount of effort by the reader to follow the many threads of his thought. This one was challenging and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but, I'm pretty sure at this point I did enjoy it. The guy can really write... but I still find it a struggle to situate myself in the narrative. Sometimes his words just flow over my brain and I end up grasping at distorted echoes of abstract ideas and flutterings of thought. Definitely worth the effort though...
Whether you are a Pessoa fan or not, this is an outstanding collection of amazing writers and their outstanding contributions. It may still be available from Zagava at this point... and it is not going to come cheap... but if you got it... this one is definitely worth it.
January 9, 2021
A book that is arguably this publisher’s greatest multi-authored anthology so far, one fitting to follow these worthy forerunners….
Cinnabar’s Gnosis
The Master in Café Morphine
This Hermetic Legislature
INFRA NOIR
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
Cinnabar’s Gnosis
The Master in Café Morphine
This Hermetic Legislature
INFRA NOIR
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
January 19, 2025
I only guessed at Damian Murphy and Avalon Brantley. But this volume contains many of my favorite authors. Having purchased this second-hand, I did not have the black envelope's contents to demystify their respective pseudonyms: it was doubly mysterious.
Wonderful, if rambling stories, best savored one at a time, instead of rushing; Read it on Lisbon time.
Wonderful, if rambling stories, best savored one at a time, instead of rushing; Read it on Lisbon time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews