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Penguin Random House

Soft is to live alone (Portable Poetry)

Soft is to live alone (Portable Poetry)

Our Review

In this small but spectacular compendium of poems by Fernando Pessoa, we can find a poet who is nihilistic, negative, positive, a lover, loved, a dreamer, a loser, and much more. Skillful with the pen, Fernando delights us with his thoughts and the feelings of his brain, not his heart, as one of his poems says. He makes you dream, laugh, and get angry.

It is Fernando Pessoa's authentic mastery collected in a small, portable poetry book, which includes some of his best poems and the verses of three of his most important heteronyms: Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, and Alberto Caeiro.

In a world full of complex questions and constant anxiety, what if the greatest wisdom lay in simply observing? This book is an invitation to pause. If you haven't read anything by Pessoa but want to start somewhere, we recommend this compendium.

Book Details

Synopsis

This short book of poems gathers a selection of Fernando Pessoa's most important works. The anthology includes texts by his own signature and by three of the nearly seventy heteronyms he created, the poets Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, and Alberto Caeiro, each with their own distinct personality.

About the Author

Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) is Portugal's most important poet and one of the pivotal figures in 20th-century literature. His work is a fascinating universe, defined by the creation of heteronyms: complete poetic personalities, with their own biography, style, and worldview. The three most important are:

  • Alberto Caeiro: The master. A bucolic and pagan poet who embodies simplicity and direct sensory perception.

  • Ricardo Reis: A doctor and classicist poet, author of Greco-Latin style odes.

  • Álvaro de Campos: A naval engineer and futurist poet, who exalts the energy and anguish of modern man.

Although he only published one book in Portuguese during his lifetime, Mensagem, his vast work was discovered after his death in a trunk containing more than 25,000 manuscripts. His legacy, ranging from poetry to essays, has profoundly influenced world literature and continues to inspire readers and writers.

Technical Specifications

  • Pages: 72

  • Author: Fernando Pessoa

  • Publisher: Penguin Random House

  • Binding: Paperback

  • Edition: 2019

  • ISBN: 9788439735304

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