In 2005, prager created a group of works, the book of disquiet, as an exhibition and joint publication with artist mercedes helnwein. Fernando pessoa and the book of disquiet others can write better, and truer, things about fernando pessoa than i can, but the salient facts for these purposes are that pessoa 18881935 was a portuguese writer who published very little during his lifetime. The book of disquiet is a diary, but of a self that is several and precarious, and always more potential than actual. A bookkeeper and journalist, he lived quietly in lisbon and published much of his poetry under assumed names. Was 18 march 1914 the most extraordinary date in modern literature. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, paperback. Written over the course of fernando pessoas life, it was first published in 1982. Influenced by pulp fiction and cinematic tropes, selftaught photographer and filmmaker alex prager creates striking, sometimes unnerving images that are filled with a dynamic cast of. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Illustration by riccardo vecchio if ever there was a writer in flight from his name, it was fernando pessoa. The narrator, perhaps a standin for pessoa himself, is clearly a distant literary relative of. He is described by pessoa in his introduction, which is the one of the few concessions to literary conventions in the book, as in his thirties, thin, fairly tall, very hunched when sitting though less so when standing, and dressed. Disquiet refers to a feeling of anxiety, and this story has plenty of unease for both its narrator and readers. The authors description of a consciousness experiencing what we call life is genius.
Aug 29, 2017 the book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoas greatest literary achievement. The book of disquiet, book by fernando pessoa paperback. Its a series of vignettes, random thoughts and meditations all written between 19 and 1935. For the first timeand in the best translation everthe complete book of disquiet, a masterpiece beyond comparison. He says he is timid, with no aptitude for life and wants never to be a protagonist. Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required.
Jun 19, 2015 fernando pessoas the book of disquiet is aptly titled. Ironically for a man whose real name was pessoa, which translates from portuguese into english as person, he wrote in a variety of heteronyms. The book of disquiet is a collection of epiphanic journal or diary prose kept by pessoa and found decades after his death. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, paperback barnes. Alex prager, american photographer just over thirty, creates fresh photographs with her own original style which, although making use of rules easilytraceable to commercial photography and, above all, film technique of the 1960s, has attracted the attention of gallery owners in search of. She began to gain more attention after exhibiting polyester in 2007, which focused on southern california and portraits of various women and girls. Alex prager and vanessa prager during alex prager and. The book of disquiet is one of the great literary works of the twentieth century.
Readers with a particular interest in modernism will find this work indispensable. During the nineteentwenties, pessoa set the book aside, turning his attention to poetry and indulging a lifelong fascination with occultism and astrology. Fernando pessoa drinking a glass of wine in a lisbon tavern in 1929. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who introduced it as a factless autobiography. Alex prager and mercedes helnweins the book of disquiet a.
Fine in near fine unclipped dust jacket with subtly sunned spine panel. Oct 16, 2010 the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa is perfect to dip into during sleepless nights, says sophia martelli. C a r hills explains how the work of fernando pessoa has sparked a. When pessoa died, he left behind a trunk filled with disorderly scraps of unpublished poems and unfinished works, among which was the book of disquiet. The book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 1888 1935. The book of disquiet fernando pessoa, edited by jeronimo pizarro, trans. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa, 97802412001, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Pessoa s book does give few concrete facts about the writer or the world of the writer. From what i understand this book is a collection of prose snippets from over 40 years that were compiled after the portuguese poets death. Publishers weekly pessoa s amazing personality is as beguiling and mysterious as his unique poetic output. Soares himself, in the only moment of being seen from the outside, looks like those who hope for nothing because. Alex prager bio, fact affair, boyfriend, married, spouse. Credited to pessoas alter ego, bernardo soares, who chronicles his contemplations in this so.
The present lot comes from one of alex pragers first series the book of disquiet. Pessoa 18881935 is not well known outside of portugal. The project was a visual investigation of the seven deadly sins, in which both artists contributed seven works meant to simultaneously represent and confound our understandings of biblical evil. Seven deadly sins selected bibliography 2014 zafiris, alex. I chat about my experience of the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa.
Fernando pessoa s the book of disquiet is aptly titled. For its entire four hundred plus pages it offers a philosophy of a melancholic life, a philosophy of dreaming, and a philosophy of art. May 30, 2002 fernando pessoa 18881935 was born in lisbon and brought up in durban, south africa. Pessoa s rapid prose, snatched in flight and restlessly suggestive, remains haunting, often startling, like the touch of a vibrating wire, elusive and persistent like the poetry. The chevalier of disquiet by max nelson the new york. This image is from one of alex pragers first series the book of disquiet. A monumental literary event, this exciting, new, complete edition spans fernando pessoa s entire writing life. A richly insightful guide to fernando pessoa s masterpiece, for both students and the common reader. It was to bernardo soares that pessoa ascribed his book of disquiet, first made available in english in a briefer version by richard zenith in 1991. It is in the book of disquiettranslated, beautifully, by margaret jull costathat pessoa found himself most truly. This almostautobiographical story tells of the sombre majesty of splendours no one knows in the very private life of its hero and offers. She is a selftaught photographer who staged sets and models to create filmlike images that invite a myriad references, not only to the history of hollywood and photography, but also the cinematic image in art contexts. Fernando pessoa lived between 1888 and 1935 but during his life he avoided the literary world, and indeed much of society, but wrote a vast amount of poetry and prose much of which has been published posthumously. The book of disquiet was found, in fragments, only after pessoa s death.
Pessoas rapid prose, snatched in flight and restlessly suggestive, remains haunting, often startling, like the touch of a vibrating wire, elusive and persistent like the poetry. Fernando pessoas multiple voices have different styles and idioms, and each one is extraordinary. Pessoa, f book of disquiet the unabridged assembled from notes and jottings left unpublished at the time of the authors death, the book of disquiet is a collection of aphoristic prosepoetry musings on dreams, solitude, time and memory. Alex prager dreamed to be the photographer since her childhood days and she actually kind of fulfilled this at her young age. Mar 26, 2016 i chat about my experience of the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa. Her nomadic upbringing saw her splitting time between florida, california and switzerland without truly settling down long enough for a formal education. The website is currently running in a viewonly mode to allow archiving of the content. The book of disquiet contains much of his prose writing of which this edition has around half of them. Photography books, coffee table photo books, contemporary art books by alex prager, nathalie herschdorfer, et al. Prager s growing filmography expands the fictive realities of her still works, touching upon themes of alienation and the pluralism. He wrote of holding inside himself all the dreams of the world and wanting to experience the whole of the universe its reality inside himself. The book of disquiet is funny, lifeaffirming, and, of course, desperately sad. A richly insightful guide to fernando pessoas masterpiece, for both students and the common reader. The book of disquiet is the portuguese modernist master fernando pessoa s greatest literary achievement.
Reading the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa as it appeared on the 2002 world librarys greatest books of all time list. Aug 30, 2016 the book of disquiet is funny, lifeaffirming, and, of course, desperately sad. William boyd a selfdeprecating reflection on the sheer distance between the loftiness of feelings and the humdrum reality of life, the book of disquiet is a classic of existentialist literature. The book is an aggregation of disparate diary entries that are abstract, dense, and at times, eccentric. View a wide variety of artworks by alex prager, now available for sale on artnet auctions. Now it was to be the work of bernardo soares, an assistant bookkeeper in a lisbon fabric company. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa if you read this, you need to know what you are signing up for, so, below, ill let pessoa speak for himself. The prose is truly some of the most gorgeous musings about everyday life and existence that any reader could ever find. The portuguese author attributed his work to literary alter egos that he called heteronyms, each of which had a fully developed identity. The title of the book the book of disquiet is credited to fernando pessoa. Ill even go so far to say, this book is the definitive work on creative poetic genius. It has the same selfdeprecation milosz wrote about when he described literature as a tournament of hunchbacks.
Now, for the first time the texts are presented chronologically, in a complete english edition by master translator. After holding down a slew of jobs in the private sector, from selling knives to washing cars, prager, so inspired by the modern works of william eggleston, decided to make the leap to full time photographer. Born in 1888, fernando pessoa is widxely considered portugals greatest modern poet and author. Dec 25, 2009 the book of disquiet manuscript, as well as most of pessoas work, was found in a trunk after his death he hardly published anything while alive. An immoral drama, a collaboration with artist mercedes helnwein, which explores the seven deadly sins. The private meditations of one of modern portugals most celebrated poets and critics, set down pseudonymously in the form of a journal spanning some 20 years. The book of disquiet an immoral drama mercedes helnwein, alex prager on. She is also known in the world for her photo graphical works like the book of disquiet, polyester and many more. The book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 18881935. In lisbon there are a few restaurants or eating houses located above decentlooking taverns, places with the heavy, domestic look of restaurants in towns far from any rail line. It is written by character senhor soares, who is assumed to be an alter ego for pessoa. May 30, 2002 buy the book of disquiet penguin modern classics new ed by pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard isbn.
A rare book that was published to accompany the show at mb art in. The book of disquiet penguin modern classics ebook. Alex pragers retro world of images trendland online. Fernando pessoa, one of the founders of modernism, was born in lisbon in 1888. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa first edition. In this thesis i studied the book of disquiet by portuguese author fernando pessoa 18881935 in order to determine to what extent the work could be linked to european literary modernism. Alex prager is an american photographer and filmmaker, born on november 1, 1979. On view for alex prager, its lonely in a crowd, t magazine, january 10 kelsey, colleen. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa is one such modern masterpiece that i read last week.
Prager has released two books in the last few years, one in 2007 titled, polyester, of which some images are featured here, and another in 2005 titled the book of disquiet, the seven deadly sins, in which she and mercedes helnwein illustrate the. An autobiography or diary containing exquisite melancholy observations, aphorisms, and ruminations, this classic work grapples with all the eternal questions. Alex prager, crowdsourced, interview magazine, january 10. With little more than a camera, a few odd subjects, and some rolls of black and white she set off. Fernando pessoa, richard zenith editor, translator, foreword 4. Nov 23, 2017 of those prose pieces, more than four hundred ended up in the book of disquiet, an unfinished assemblage of brooding fragments pessoa began under one heteronym in 19, labored over for some seven years, dropped for nearly a decade, took back up under a fresh characters name in 1929, and kept expanding until his death. An immoral drama, a collaboration with artist mercedes helnwein, which. A modernist masterwork that has now taken on a similar iconic status to ulysses, the trial or in search of lost time, fernando pessoa s the book of disquiet is edited and translated with an introduction by richard zenith in penguin modern classics. The book of disquiet by fernando pessoa book chat youtube. Written over the course of fernando pessoa s life, it was first published in 1982, pieced together from the thousands of individual manuscript pages left behind by pessoa after his death in 1935. Perhaps the most occult writer of the twentieth century and the one who best lived up to rimbauds dictum about becoming a medium was fernando pessoa. This existential masterpiece was first published in portuguese in 1982, fortyseven years after pessoa s death.
Its floating boundaries expand and contract, lazily animated by the horror of making our soul a fact. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Download premium images you cant get anywhere else. The narrator, perhaps a standin for pessoa himself, is clearly a distant literary relative of shakespeares hamlet or eliots prufrock. Most of the texts in the book of disquiet are written under the semiheteronym bernardo soares, an assistant bookkeeper. When he returned to it, in 1929, he had reimagined its author. Anything and everything, depending on how one sees it, is a marvel or a hindrance, an all or a nothing, a path or a problem, says bernardo soares, the putative author of fernando pessoa s classic the book of disquiet. Apr 10, 2017 the book of disquiet was penned by bernardo soares, an assistant bookkeeper and unpublished poet and writer. The subjects of her works, exaggerated and continue reading. Soares himself, in the only moment of being seen from the outside, looks like those who hope for nothing because its perfectly useless to hope. Published posthumously, the book of disquiet is a fragmentary. Buy the book of disquiet penguin modern classics new ed by pessoa, fernando, zenith, richard isbn. Livro do desassossego the book of disquiet, fernando pessoa the book of disquiet is a work by the portuguese author fernando pessoa 18881935. Photographs by alex prager drawings by mercedes helnwein.