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The Book of Disquiet
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The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (July 2025)
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Fower Pessoas by Colin Bramwell: Carcanet Book LaunchDate & Time
Mar 5, 2025 07:00 PM in London
Description
Please join us to celebrate the launch of Fower Pessoas by Colin Bramwell. The reading will be hosted by Scottish Makar Peter Mackay. The event will feature readings and discussion, and audience members will have the opportunity to ask their own questions. We will show the text during readings so that you can read along. Fower Pessoas is the most original work of translation that you will read this year: a bold reimagining of Fernando Pessoa’s poetry by an exciting next-generation Scottish poet. Following his subject’s unique approach to composition, Colin Bramwell puts all four of Pessoa’s heteronyms into a present-day Scots-language vernacular, and so creates a parochial Pessoa for our own times. Bramwell’s adaptation matches his subject’s restless lyricism. It is rare to see a translator go toe-to-toe with their subject in this way. The resulting entanglement makes for some astonishing, full-throated poetry. Readers will be delighted by this witty, emotive and artful reinterpretation of an indispensable European poet. Fower Pessoas not only celebrates Pessoa’s extraordinary range of modes and moods, but also marks the arrival of an outstanding new talent in Scottish poetry. Registration for this online event will cost £2, redeemable against the cost of the book. You will receive the discount code and instructions for how to purchase the book in your confirmation email as well as during and after the event.
Fee
£2
This is an online event from Carcanet Press in Manchester
I've made a start on Richard Zenith's Pessoa: An Experimental Life to get some sense of who Pessoa was and the contexts relating to his work. Although not sure if I'll actually finish it, it's gargantuan. And now have the Penguin edition that Vesna and R. C. recommended. I'm really looking forward to this, I like that it's fragmented so I can fit it in with catching up on ARCs.
My library has two translations. One is by Alfred MacAdam and is 278 pages. The other, edited by Jerónimo Pizarro, is translated by Margaret Jull Costa, and is 468 pages.
Here is the first paragraph of Pessoa's preface from the Pizarro/Costa:Installed on the upper floors of certain respectable taverns in Lisbon can be found a small number of restaurants or eating places, which have the stolid, homely look of those restaurants you see in towns that lack even a train station. Among the clientele of such places, which are rarely busy except on Sundays, one is as likely to encounter the eccentric as the nondescript, to find people who are but a series of marginal notes in the book of life.
Here is that same paragraph from Zenith:Lisbon has a certain number of eating establishments in which, on top of a respectable-looking tavern, there’s a regular dining room with the solid and homey air of a restaurant in a small trainless town. In these first-floor dining rooms, fairly empty except on Sundays, one often comes across odd sorts, unremarkable faces, a series of asides in life.
The audiobook is also Zenith's translation though I have not compared how complete is is compared to the text.
G wrote: "My library has two translations. One is by Alfred MacAdam and is 278 pages. The other, edited by Jerónimo Pizarro, is translated by Margaret Jull Costa, and is 468 pages."If it's a choice between Jull Costa or MacAdam, I'd plump for the Jull Costa. She has a solid rep for translation work and the edition has decent reviews. The issues with editions though, you probably know this but just in case, is not entirely related to style. Basically the book wasn't published until after Pessoa's death and it's been a headache ever since.
I don't know if you've ever come across discussions of how the manuscript for Ulysses was compiled - there's a fascinating account in Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties - lost sections, censorship by typists/typesetters etc But the situation around compiling a definitive version of Pessoa's manuscript is far, far worse.
He kept a huge stash of writing in a trunk in his room, basically thrown in willy-nilly. He also had a tendency to write on anything that came to hand, scraps of paper, the backs of envelopes etc So compiling a definitive text has been beyond challenging and isn't likely to be tidily resolved. But the longer - Zenith and Jull Costa - editions are considered more comprehensive, more reliable than others.
Sam wrote: "Here is that same paragraph from Zenith:Lisbon has a certain number of eating establishments in which, on top of a respectable-looking tavern, there’s a regular dining room with the solid and hom..."
Thanks for that Sam, really interesting to see the differences in approach.
Alwynne wrote: "G wrote: "My library has two translations. One is by Alfred MacAdam and is 278 pages. The other, edited by Jerónimo Pizarro, is translated by Margaret Jull Costa, and is 468 pages."If it's a choi..."
Thanks, Alwynne. This confirms what I suspected about the Pessoa work. I hadn't realized that Ulysses was somewhat similar. I remember when Ulysses came out (and at some point I got my hands on a copy), but I'd not realized that the issues went beyond misreading a manuscript.
I requested both editions of Pessoa from the library so I could look at both, but I figured I'd read the Jull Costa, if only because I think I trust New Directions more than Pantheon when it comes to a translated literary work.
G wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "G wrote: "My library has two translations. One is by Alfred MacAdam and is 278 pages. The other, edited by Jerónimo Pizarro, is translated by Margaret Jull Costa, and is 468 pages."..."I'm a huge fan of Sylvia Beach so first found out because of reading about her. If you're interested these outline some of the issues, as well as fill in some of the background on Beach.
https://zsr.wfu.edu/2011/rare-book-of...
https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits...
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/l...
Over the years, I've tried The Book of Disquiet twice. I never made it through the entire thing. I am interested in following this discussion to see the comments. (And possibly to lure me back in for a third try, lol.)
Mod
Alwynne wrote: "The issues with editions though, you probably know this but just in case, is not entirely related to style. Basically the book wasn't published until after Pessoa's death and it's been a headache ever since...."To follow up on Alwynne's earlier comment about the choice of editions, it's indeed more complicated than just the matter of a translator's style. I did some digging and here is the gist of the main differences between Zenith (Penguin) and Costa (New Directions).
Note that both of them did earlier translations, Zenith for Carcanet and Costa for Serpent's Tail, which are significantly shorter because of the limited choice of Pessoa's fragments. Costa's earlier translation (Serpent's Tail) is also from the edition that follows an editor's thematic order while her later translation of the expanded version is based on another editor's choice of the chronological order (New Directions).
The choice of Pessoa's fragments:
Despite ND's subtitle "Complete Edition", none of these editions is entirely complete but based on the editor's judgement of which fragments Pessoa would have included in this novel, something he himself has never done. Zenith included even more fragments in Penguin than Pizarro did for Costa's ND translation. Either way, both are attempting be as most comprehensive in the fragments inclusion as possible which makes them the most commendable editions.
The issue of ordering/arrangement:
- Pizarro/Costa's (ND) is chronological, based on the research about the possible chronology in which Pessoa wrote his fragments. They are grouped into two phases in which Pessoa wrote these fragments, each with a different imaginary author: 1. 1913-1920, 2. 1929-1934 (there was a pause in 1920-29 as no fragments from the 1920s that would belong to this intended novel were written or found). But, since he dated primarily some of his late fragments, the chronology is conjectural and most of the years for each fragment are followed by a question mark in the ND edition. Also, there is a difference in the evolution of Pessoa's style and interests which then has both pros and cons for reading them in these two chronological divisions.
- Zenith's is a sort of hybrid arrangement following Pessoa's note on how he would go about to organize the book (though he never definitively made up his mind about it). He used the later dated fragments chronologically as the "skeleton" to be thematically interspersed with earlier and later undated fragments. The Penguin edition includes the entire note with the quote from Pessoa about this preferred arrangement.
The choice of the text (for some fragments):
Most fragments were written on scraps of paper and what-not with many changes that Pessoa made and even reverted back to the original throughout his life. So there is the question of the exact sentences to be considered "definitive" for some such fragments which then also can affect their translations.
In short, reading two different editions is unlikely to leave a reader with the same experience. Something we might want to keep in mind as we exchange our impressions.
Mod
I'm going to finish this month's Proust first before starting this - two heavyweight literary tomes on the go at once is too much for a London heatwave!
I plan to dip into it bit by bit, but reserve my inalienable right to change my mind if it makes me.
Mod
Absolutely! As queen of the dnf'ers, I say blithely abandon anything that's not working ;))
The Jull Costa is the edition I can get hold of, so that's what I'll be reading. Hopefully it'll arrive in a day or two.
Hello Pessoas, I’ve highly enjoyed reading Fernando Pessoa’s poetry anthology and short stories, some in original Portuguese, some translated. I’ve become familiar with most of his heteronyms except Vicente Guedes and Bernando Soares, so when I saw this Buddy Read now in July I wanted to grab the opportunity. I got the Brazilian Todavia edition from 2023, in Portuguese, and it seems similar to the New Directions English edition (chronological structure of fragments). Looking forward to read more comments here. I’m especially curious to compare the original text with the different translated variants. For example, entry no. 7 [1913?] the fourth fragment titled “Nossa Senhora do Silêncio”, anyone?
(I suppose the paragraph starts with “Moon of memories…” or similar)
"Lua de memórias perdidas sobre a negra paisagem, nítida no sossego, da minha imperfeição compreendendo-se. O meu ser sente-te vagamente, como se fosse um cinto teu que te sentisse. Debruço-me sobre o teu rosto branco nas águas noturnas do meu desassossego, mas nunca saberei se és lua no meu céu para que o causes, ou estranha lua submarina para que, não sei como, o finjas."
It’s just stunning to me, abstract yet so visibly clear. I hope it is conveyed with the same style in English…
I am probably not going to make it through this book and am only going to read along and use it as a starting point for a future investigation of Pessoa because of what Vesna and Lasse have already said. I own two volumes of poetry by Pessoa under two different heteronyms, The Complete Works of Álvaro de Campos and The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro plus the biography, Pessoa: A Biography and want to do a deeper dive into the author at a future time, but I will be reading, contributing what I can, and hopefully, gaining from everyone else's posts.
Mod
I’ve highly enjoyed reading Fernando Pessoa’s poetry anthology and short stories, some in original Portuguese, some translated."
Welcome Lasse - it will be fascinating to have someone in the group who can comment on the original and translations.
I haven't started yet on Pessoa as I'm reading vol. 4 of Proust with another part of this group... but soon!
Mod
No problem, Sam - we're relaxed here so comment and join in as you wish :)
I am torn whether to start reading it now when already moving to Proust's vol. 4 for our another buddy read. As RC said earlier, reading them concurrently might not be the best idea. I'll try it though and see if it works. If not, then I'll get to Pessoa once I finish Sodom and Gomorrah.
Mod
What strikes me is how much it adds to our understanding of modernist manifestos - and how Pessoa has been minimised in standard accounts of literary modernism. I'm unsure why. His own opening writings situate him between the decadents and modernists: we can trace issues of alienation, multiple and unstable selves, a godless universe, subjectivity and sensation, the absurdity of humanity and life itself.
The Zenith introduction gives a helpful overview of Pessoa and his project. There are places where this intro made me think of Joyce, Beckett, the existentialists, Proust and Woolf: the discussion about voices that fade in and out in a kind of chorus especially reminded me of The Waves which I've just read.
I'm continuing for the moment and will see where all this leads...
Mod
I've said more in my review which is here:
www.goodreads.com/review/show/3729923289
This makes me even keener to hear what everyone else makes of this. I'd love to hear a counter-argument telling me what and how much others have got from this book!
This makes perfect sense, RC. I tried to read it along Proust but it doesn't work. Moreover, I realized that I would probably need to read something else after Proust's vol. 4 before returning to Pessoa. He definitely requires the right mood even from a reader to whose sensibility his fragments might appeal (which I hope will be my case). I'm amazed how much you got out only from 40 pages in your review.
Mod
Reading this is actually like reading the diaries or journals of someone but without the stability of author and external interest of, say, the journals of Woolf or Plath.
Thanks for being understanding! I do think Pessoa's project is fascinating but I think I got all I'm going to get out of it in my 3-4 hours with this book this afternoon.
I did finish this book when I read it about 20 years ago, but only because I am very stubborn about finishing what I start. To be honest I think it would work better as a book to dip in and out of occasionally in very small chunks (maybe one to keep in the bathroom). I gave my copy away and have no intention of trying to read it again even if there is a version that arranges it more logically.
Mod
Roman Clodia wrote: "I don't get the impression that logic is at stake here, whichever organization readers choose. Or that it's a 'bathroom book'. I think it's more concerned with expressing a philosophy."What fascinates me is that it both is and isn't. In that we know he took on a variety of personas, so there's a sense that we're witnessing these "authentic" outpourings of an isolated, somewhat tortured man - the lonely Lisbon bookkeeper - but also an instability about that identity that raises issues around artificiality, self as construct etc Made even more complicated because the bookkeeper Bernardo Soares is described as a semi-heteronym by Pesso:
“My semi‑heteronym Bernardo Soares, in many ways similar to Álvaro de Campos, appears when tired and half asleep my natural impulse to reason and to control slackens; his prose is an ongoing reverie. He is a semi-‐‑heteronym because even though he is not my own personality, he is not so much different from myself as he is a mere distortion of that personality. He is me without my rational and emotional aspects. The prose, except for what in mine seems reasoned, is the same as mine, and the Portuguese is completely the same.” - Letter to Adolfo Casais Monteiro, January 13, 1915
It reminds me of books like Rousseau's Confessions but unmoored and stripped of many of the more concrete elements - so far anyway except for the people in his office and the cat!
And his comment on pg. 17 of the Penguin edition about being part of this amorphous group of unheard voices, people whose dreams have been dashed 'made me think of that Thoreau quotation that's so frequently bandied about:
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."
Except that unlike Rousseau and Thoreau, Pessoa seems anti-systemic, deliberately contradictory. A philosopher without a theoretical/philosophical framework. So it feels as if he's writing back/writing in relation to a very particular strand within literature and popular philosophy. There are echoes too of Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, even the clerks in H. G. Wells - or maybe the imagined inner worlds of someone like Leonard Bast?
Having said all that, I can also see why you abandoned it R. C. it's very introspective in ways I think may end up being deeply irritating and frustrating. With Rilke, and other possible influences, there is a sense of a political dimension, an awareness of inequalities beyond the plight of the alienated individual. My impression is that's not going to happen here. I also wonder if, on some level, it's not a gendered text. From reading reviews it seems to appeal to men more than women. So maybe there's a sense in which it articulates issues around self-expression, emotional isolation that still resonate for many men - thinking of the many discussions/articles about men lacking friends, having difficulties forming satisfying intimate relationships etc Some of the reviews reminded me of reactions to Ozamu Dazai's No Longer Human which has some thematic overlaps.
Mod
But most of all you've put your finger on why I didn't adhere to the text: it's the introspection as a standalone state, divorced from any political or social or cultural aspect. I can see that that's part of Pessoa's extreme experimentation but a little of that style of writing went a long way with me. By definition, there is no progress, no history within the fragments (which is why there is no overriding logical order that could be imposed on them that would give a coherence other than intentional random fragmentation), no endpoint.
I also felt this is a gendered text with an invisible assumption that masculinity stands in for a universal. I was consciously and unconsciously comparing it with female-authored introspection which speaks to me, especially because it's rarely disembodied.
All that said, I'm glad I dipped into this book. There are some lovely passages, and I appreciated the passages on writing, literature as a way of heightening the reality of life. I probably read about 150 pages overall and that was enough. I'm not someone who would typically read philosophy and I suspect someone who does may well love this.
I have found the time to come back to this now. First, Vesna's post is excellent at describing the whys of the difference in versions and I am going to elaborate on that with more examples. The essence is that whichever translation one reads, it in many ways will be a completely different experience than one would have with another translation.Here is my impression after reading only about twenty initial entries from each:
The ND edition translated by Costa, has been edited following a supposedly more chronological approach, with a more modern feel IMO, written in loose fragments as if from an poet/artist's notebook. The reader bears the responsibility of connecting and ordering these him/herself.
The Penguin edition translated by Zenith has been edited with more of a narrative intended, so that the fragments chosen read as from a diary or journal and the heteronym for these uses the term "confessions," which seems apt. Hence from this version I think we get a better picture of the "author," and perhaps the intent of the whole.
IMO, the best read would be to read the Costa and Zenith in comparison for I felt that was giving the best reading experience and most satisfaction. Because I haven't the time for that, I may continue with the Zenith for a bit since I have the audio accompaniment and it was a less demanding read from what I have read so far. But as I said, I may drop it completely for now unless others are going to be reading and chatting about the book.
I will post examples in a later post which involves bouncing back and forth with devices.
Lasse wrote: "Hello Pessoas, I’m especially curious to compare the original text with the different translated variants. For example, entry no. 7 [1913?] the fourth fragment titled “Nossa Senhora do Silêncio”, anyone?
(I suppose the paragraph starts with “Moon of memories…” or similar)
..."
Sorry to get back on this so late. That entry in the ND edition translated by Costa is the fourth paragraph of the entry 7. and here is her translation.
Moon of lost memories shining down on the dark landscape, bright in the stillness of my imperfect understanding. My being feels you vaguely, as if it were an invisible belt encircling you. I bend over your white face reflected in the nocturnal waters of my disquiet, but I will never know if you hang in my sky in order to cause that disquiet or are instead a strange submarine moon merely feigning disquiet.
Here is a comparison of the two editions approach to organization of the fragments. I'm only including the first couple of sentences to demonstrate. Here is the beginning of the first fragment in the ND translated by Costa:My soul is a hidden orchestra; I do not know what instruments, what violins and harps, drums and tambours, sound and clash inside me. I know myself only as a symphony.
All effort is a crime because every gesture is but a dead dream.
Here is the opening sentences of the Penguin translated by Zenith.
I was born in a time when the majority of young people had lost faith in God, for the same reason their elders had had it – without knowing why. And since the human spirit naturally tends to make judgements based on feeling instead of reason, most of these young people chose Humanity to replace God. I, however, am the sort of person who is always on the fringe of what he belongs to, seeing not only the multitude he’s a part of but also the wide-open spaces around it. That’s why I didn’t give up God as completely as they did, and I never accepted Humanity. I reasoned that God, while improbable, might exist, in which case he should be worshipped; whereas Humanity, being a mere biological idea and signifying nothing more than the animal species we belong to, was no more deserving of worship than any other animal species.
Thank you, Sam, for these comparisons. They're very telling. I will be reading it but probably not before the very end of July or maybe even early August (Zenith). In your experience so far, is it better to read it in one go or to read the selections periodically over time? One my GR friend absolutely loved it but read it intermittently over the course of one year.
Mod
Yes, thanks Sam - they're clearly using very different orders (as we know) but presumably all the fragments still appear at some point in the text, just compiled differently?
Alwynne wrote: "G wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "G wrote: "My library has two translations. One is by Alfred MacAdam and is 278 pages. The other, edited by Jerónimo Pizarro, is translated by Margaret Jull Costa, and is 4..."Thank you for these, Alwynne. I've not had time to dig into them yet, but I plan to.
The ND edition has come in at the library for me, and I'm going to give it a try. I'm not sure, from the discussion till now, that I'm going to manage very much, to be honest. I'm in the middle of, and loving, The Remembered Soldier, which itself is around 550 pages. I'd not planned to read two long books simultaneously, but Remembered Soldier arrived at the library, and I was loathe to send it back.
Mod
The concepts of this being a 'book' with a 'beginning' and an 'ending' don't really apply in this case as it's all contingencies. I'd be interested in your thoughts, whatever you read.
Roman Clodia wrote: "G wrote: "The ND edition has come in at the library for me, and I'm going to give it a try. I'm not sure, from the discussion till now, that I'm going to manage very much, to be honest"The concep..."
Your and Alwynne's discussions of its being gendered make me think of my reaction to Borges, so I'm not expecting much. Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised!
Vesna wrote: "Thank you, Sam, for these comparisons. They're very telling. I will be reading it but probably not before the very end of July or maybe even early August (Zenith). In your experience so far, is it ..."My original intention was to read one translation while comparing the other. Now, I would want to concentrate on one first, perhaps occaisionally checking something in the other, because from what I see the two editions are quite different. Because Zenith has made a life out of translating and promoting Pessoa, I will probably read his Book of Disquiet first, followed by his recent biography of Pessoa. But I look at the read as more of a study than a read for the enjoyment of the book. It is the author's use of heteronyms that most interests me, because he really seemed to indulge them, both in the large number of them and in the details he went into making
them up, including creating fictional biographies for his fictional heteronyms.
I am a bit more caught up but am reading A Fable by Faulkner, The Red and the Black by Stendhal, and
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu all for the first time and they are exacting a toll on my time. I will read a few more pages in the Zenith but with the Booker longlist dropping in less than two weeks, I think I will be better holding off on this till later in the year.
Roman Clodia wrote: "Vesna wrote: "Thank you, Sam, for these comparisons."Yes, thanks Sam - they're clearly using very different orders (as we know) but presumably all the fragments still appear at some point in the ..."
I did not get far enough into the comparison to verify or refute that.
My plan is to keep it on the (back) burner and dip into it when the mood strikes me, which will sometimes mean reading a lot at a stretch when it excites me. So it will take me quite a while.I admire your dedication to this work, Sam and I'm enjoying your comments.
Sam wrote: "Lasse wrote: "Hello Pessoas, I’m especially curious to compare the original text with the different translated variants. For example, entry no. 7 [1913?] the fourth fragment titled “Nossa Senhora ..."
Thanks Sam for sharing the ND-translation! I have interpreted a few of Pessoa's poems to Swedish before, but I'll humbly give this one a try in English, to see if I can convey a few more subtilities from Pessoa's original:
Moon of lost memories over a black landscape,
shining clear in the quiet, fully understanding of my imperfection.
My being feels you vaguely, as if it were a belt of yours that felt you.
I lean myself over your white face in the nocturnal waters of my disquiet,
but never will I know if you are a moon in my sky, unsettling me from above,
or, somehow, a strange underwater moon that tricks me from below.
What first stunned me about this prose-poem was the final image, leaving in doubt whether the narrator sees the moon reflected in the waters, or rather his own pale face. So I added the 'above' and 'below' just to emphasize the two possible ways of seeing, that would represent two opposed sources of his disquiet. Is the worry caused from outside phenomena or does come from within? This duality is at the core of the whole book, as far as I have read (almost done with Part I).
I interpret the moon as a calm, outer entity, all-knowing, even of lost memories, that understands/covers Pessoa's feeling of incompleteness.
Its effect on Pessoa's soul is vaguely yet physically "felt on him, like a belt on him" (my perhaps silly attempt to keep some of the Portuguese alliterative wordplay around 'sentir-te', 'cinto teu' and 'te sentisse').
Lua de memórias perdidas sobre a negra paisagem,
nítida no sossego, da minha imperfeição compreendendo-se.
O meu ser sente-te vagamente, como se fosse um cinto teu que te sentisse.
Debruço-me sobre o teu rosto branco nas águas noturnas do meu desassossego,
mas nunca saberei se és lua no meu céu para que o causes,
ou estranha lua submarina para que, não sei como, o finjas.
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
The Red and the Black (other topics)A Fable (other topics)
The Tale of Genji (other topics)
The Remembered Soldier (other topics)
No Longer Human (other topics)
More...
Fernando Pessoa was many writers in one. He attributed his prolific writings to a wide range of alternate selves, each of which had a distinct biography, ideology, and horoscope. When he died in 1935, Pessoa left behind a trunk filled with unfinished and unpublished writings, among which were the remarkable pages that make up his posthumous masterpiece, The Book of Disquiet, an astonishing work that, in George Steiner's words, "gives to Lisbon the haunting spell of Joyce's Dublin or Kafka's Prague." Published for the first time some fifty years after his death, this unique collection of short, aphoristic paragraphs comprises the "autobiography" of Bernardo Soares, one of Pessoa's alternate selves. Part intimate diary, part prose poetry, part descriptive narrative, captivatingly translated by Richard Zenith, The Book of Disquiet is one of the greatest works of the twentieth century.
The buddy will start in July but this thread is open now for chat and comments. Who's read this and what did you think?