Let Fernando Pessoa Guide you through Lisbon.
Wandering Through Literary Lisbon in Search of Pessoa’s Disquiet
I had arrived in Lisbon for the last four days of the Disquiet International Literary Program, so I had Pessoa on my mind. But even tourists who miss the initial introduction, fogged by jetlag or squeezed into Ubers, will at some point in their stay run across the great modernist writer.
His spirit pervades Lisbon as deeply as Joyce’s suffuses Dublin, another word-drunk, salt-aired capital of a country forever in its neighbor’s shadow.
His spirit pervades Lisbon as deeply as Joyce’s suffuses Dublin, another word-drunk, salt-aired capital of a country forever in its neighbor’s shadow.
In Copenhagen we lived in the same street where Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard used to live. At Sommersko, which used to be just around the corner from us, I used to hang out with FP Jac and other poets. And I can’t visit home without having a beer (or two) at Cafe Nick – Schade’s, Tauscher’s and all the other Copenhagen Bohemians’ second home.
In Dublin I’ve walked in James Joyce’s food steps and for many years I always sipped Pastis in the cafes that Sartre and de Beauvoir used to frequent and shopped books at Shakespeare & Co that published Joyce’s Ulysses.
The Book of Disquiet is the Portuguese modernist master Fernando Pessoa's greatest literary achievement. An "autobiography" or "diary" containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions.
A monumental literary event, this exciting, new, complete edition spans Fernando Pessoa's entire writing life.
Call me a snob – BUT to me knowing the past of a neighborhood: all its places and personalities, all the local gossip, things and situations that have happened etc add a dimension to one’s stay. Without the influential poets who have lived around us, Graça wouldn’t have the bohemian (Parisian?) I feel it has. When you walk the streets of Graça you feel the spirit from Natália Correia, Angelina Vidal, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Florbela Espanca …. We are surrounded by them.
Maybe it’s the same for you. Maybe it’s not. Whether it is or isn’t, but if you are planning to visit Lisbon you should read Thomas Swick’s story about his Lisbon visit where he attended the Disquiet International Literary Program (Named after Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet).
If you live here – it’s a must.
Fernando Pessoa gazed out from the wall – as Thomas Swick wrongly writes. He gazes out of ALL walls, buildings and roads – he is everywhere!
There are more things in heaven and earth...
‘Books to Read’ on our stairs – waiting for our road trip next week.
….Shakespeare was right.
A week before I read Thomas Swick’s story, my friend Henrik List sent me the link to the Literary Hub. At the same time, Annette found our copy of The Book of Disquiet from the pile of books we received for our 25 anniversary. We still haven’t had the time to read it yet. I have been looking at the book everyday since then.
Inspired by this post I reread Thomas Swick’s story again and mapped all Pessoa & other Literary locations in the Google map below so I can easily find it from my app next time I go to that part of town.
If you feel inspired after reading about Pessoa you are more than welcome to use it yourself
Enjoy,
Thomas