The Book of Disquiet (77 page)

451
[2/51, typed]

‘Any road, this simple Entepfuhl road… World’
: From Thomas Carlyle, cf. Text 138.

452
[2/52, typed]

453
†[9/41, ms.]

454
[1/85, typed]

in the news
: ‘in progress’ (alternate version)

455
[4/55, ms.] Dated 23 December 1933.

456
[4/56–7, ms.] Dated 31 March 1934.

457
[7/3, ms.]

458
[2/11, typed]

Praça da Figueira
: One of Lisbon’s downtown squares, which in Pessoa’s day was taken up by a public market.

459
[2/2, ms.]

460
[2/47, typed]

461
[5/59, ms.]

462
[5/10, typed]

463
[7/39, typed] Dated 5 June 1934.

464
[6/16, typed]

Poe’s Egaeus
: From the short story ‘Berenice’.

465
[6/15, typed] Dated 9 June 1934.

466
[5/35, ms.]

467
[28/26, ms.]

468
[5/12, typed] Dated 19 June 1934.

Peter Schlemihl
: The protagonist of
Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte
, published in 1814 by Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838).

469
[9/11, ms.]

470
[144Y/52, ms.]

471
[5/33, typed] Dated 21 June 1934.

472
[7/49, ms.] Dated 29 June 1934.

epopt
: An initiate in the highest order of the Eleusinian mysteries.

473
[7/50, ms.] Dated 26 July 1934.

474
[112/9, ms.]

475
[133G/30, ms.]

Amiel
: See note for Text
72
.

476
[5/69, ms.]

477
[3/8, ms.]

478
[1/26, ms.] The parenthetical heading is in English in the original.

479
[2/31, ms.]

480
[1/78, ms.]

481
[6/17, typed]

A Disquiet Anthology

A
DVICE TO
U
NHAPPILY
M
ARRIED
W
OMEN
(I) [5/65, ms.]

Cesare Borgia
: Cited by Machiavelli as a prime example of the modern ‘prince’, Cesare (
c.
1475–1507) was one of the most notorious members of the politically ruthless Borgia clan.

A
DVICE TO
U
NHAPPILY
M
ARRIED
W
OMEN
(II) [5/8a, ms.]

A
DVICE TO
U
NHAPPILY
M
ARRIED
W
OMEN
(III) [114
¹
/97, ms.] No title appears on the manuscript, but Pessoa almost certainly had his ‘Advice’ to unhappy wives in mind.

A
POCALYPTIC
F
EELING
[7/23–7, ms.]

T
HE
A
RT OF
E
FFECTIVE
D
REAMING
(I) [15B
¹
/96, ms.]

T
HE
A
RT OF
E
FFECTIVE
D
REAMING
(II) [5/5, ms.]

you can leave for tomorrow
: ‘you can likewise not do tomorrow’ (alternate version)

T
HE
A
RT OF
E
FFECTIVE
D
REAMING
(III) [9/23a, ms.]

T
HE
A
RT OF
E
FFECTIVE
D
REAMING FOR
M
ETAPHYSICAL
M
INDS
[144D
²
/46–50, ms.]

I’m a character of
: ‘I’m bits of characters from’ (alternate version) C
ASCADE
[5/6, ms.]

when life is negated
: ‘when love is negated’ (alternate version)

C
ENOTAPH
[5/15–16, typed] The sixth paragraph is followed by two incomplete phrases, which Pessoa presumably thought of incorporating into a revised version of this text:

– of simple heroism, with no heaven to win through martyrdom, nor humanity to save through struggle; of the old pagan race that belongs to the City and outside of which all are barbarians and enemies.

– but with the emotion of the son who loves his mother because she is his mother and not because he is her son.

D
ECLARATION OF
D
IFFERENCE
[5/56, typed]

D
IVINE
E
NVY
[4/65–6, ms.]

Cais do Sodré
: See note for Text
16
.

F
UNERAL
M
ARCH
†[138A/33–4, ms.]

F
UNERAL
M
ARCH FOR
L
UDWIG
II, K
ING OF
B
AVARIA
[4/59–63, 138A/56, ms.] The following phrases, which Pessoa perhaps meant to incorporate into a revised version of this text (along with several other fragmentary passages that have turned up in his archives), appear at the end of the manuscript copy:

… and in the background Death…

Your coming glows in the sunset, in the regions where Death reigns.

They have crowned you with mysterious flowers of unknown colours, an absurd garland worthy of a deposed god.

… your purple devotion to dreaming, splendour of Death’s antechamber.

… impossible hetairas of the abyss…

Sound your horns, heralds, from the tops of the battlements, in salute of this great dawn! The King of Death is about to enter his domain!

Flowers from the abyss, black roses, moon-white carnations, radiant red poppies.

Ludwig II, King of Bavaria
: This whimsical German monarch was born in 1845, came to the throne in 1864, and died in 1886, on 13 June, exactly two years before Pessoa was born. A fervent admirer and supporter of Richard Wagner, Ludwig had little interest in government affairs but preferred to spend his time and the state’s money building mock-Gothic castles and sponsoring lavish performances of plays, concerts and operas for his own private enjoyment. His exasperated ministers finally declared him mentally unfit to rule and sent him to his castle-turned-asylum at Berg, where the next day his drowned corpse was found in Lake Starnberg, but whether he committed suicide or was the victim of foul play remains a mystery. This would perhaps please the so-called Dream King, who once wrote: ‘I want to remain an eternal enigma, both to myself and to others.’

catalfalques of heroes
: ‘catafalques of suicides’ (alternate version)

I
MPERIAL
L
EGEND
[5/75, ms.]

restless mystery
: ‘congenital mystery’ (alternate version)

my self-awareness
: ‘my soul’ (alternate version)

I
N THE
F
OREST OF
E
STRANGEMENT
Published in
A Águia
, July–December 1913, as a passage from
The Book of Disquiet
and signed by Fernando Pessoa. The whereabouts of the original manuscript is unknown.

T
HE
L
AKE OF
P
OSSESSION
(I) [9/47, ms.]

T
HE
L
AKE OF
P
OSSESSION
(II) [5/5, ms.]

Property isn’t a theft: it’s nothing
: This statement refutes, or relativizes, the notion of Proudhon. But in a note written in English [15
⁴
/15], Pessoa agreed with the author of
Qu’est-ce que la propriété?
: ‘The true word on the case was first spoken by Proudhon. “Property,” he said, “is a theft.” And the words were truer than he himself believed, for property, in truth, is a theft and had its origin in robbery.’

A L
ETTER
(I) [4/74, 5/9, ms.]

A L
ETTER
(II)† [114
¹
/75, ms.]

L
UCID
D
IARY
[5/17, typed]

by the gods
: ‘by the angels’ (alternate version)

T
HE
M
AJOR
[9/5, ms.] Dated 8 October 1919.

M
AXIMS
[7/32–3, ms.]

M
ILKY
W
AY
[7/37, 7/35–6, typed]

rites from the time of no one
: ‘rites contemporaneous to no one’s understanding’ (alternate version)

long-drawn-out epitaph
: ‘Gongoristic epitaph’ (alternate version)

M
ILLIMETRES
[9/49, typed]

O
UR
L
ADY OF
S
ILENCE
[4/75–7, 9/28, 94/80, 4/78–9, 4/73, 4/72, ms.]

so loathsomely born?
: ‘so loathsomely expelled into the world?/into the light?’ (alternate versions)

Votary of nonsense phrases
: ‘Votary of sexless phrases’ (alternate version)

P
EDRO
’
S
P
ASTORAL
[8/8, ms.] Alternate title in the manuscript:
Pedro’s Eclogue
.

a bird alighted
: ‘the idea of a bird alighted’ (alternate version)

P
ERISTYLE
[9/39, 31, 32, 40, ms.]

like the open doors of an abandoned house
: ‘like open gates at the end of a tree-lined drive’ (alternate version)

my life in you
: ‘your life in me’ (alternate version)

than this dead life
: ‘than this very life’ (alternate version)

R
ANDOM
D
IARY
[5/68, ms.]

T
HE
R
IVER OF
P
OSSESSION
[5/70–72, ms.]

our true nature
: ‘our true humanity’/‘our maturity’ (alternate versions)

Platonic
: ‘spiritualist’ (alternate version)

garden of Estrela
: A large public garden in Lisbon.

S
ELF
-E
XAMINATION
[94/88, 88a, ms.]

Amiel
: See note for Text
72
.

T
HE
S
ENSATIONIST
[144D
²
/82–4, ms.]

‘on le fatigait en l’aimant’
: From Chateaubriand. See Text
235
.

S
ENTIMENTAL
E
DUCATION
[5/53–4, typed]

S
YMPHONY OF THE
R
ESTLESS
N
IGHT
[94/3, mixed]

argonauts
: See note for Text
124
.

T
HE
V
ISUAL
L
OVER
(I) [7/45–7, ms.]

Anteros
: According to some mythological accounts, when young Eros (called Cupid by the Romans) complained to his mother that he was lonely, Aphrodite gave him a brother, Anteros, to be his playmate. A symbol of reciprocal affection, this Anteros was known as the god of unrequited love, punishing those who didn’t return the affection they were shown. But Pessoa, in an unpublished text from his archives [107/23–5], follows another ancient line
of thought, which understood Anteros as an anti-Cupid. According to Pessoa, Eros represented instinctive love, motivated by sensual attraction, whereas Anteros represented love founded on reason and the intelligence.

‘Anteros’ was also the title for the last in a projected cycle of five poems that would have traced the history of love in the Western world. Pessoa wrote and published the first two poems in English: ‘Antinoüs’ (which he linked to Greece) and ‘Epithalamium’ (Rome). The third poem, ‘Prayer to a Woman’s Body’, would have represented the Christian era, and the fourth poem, ‘Pan-Eros’, the modern era. ‘Anteros’ was supposed to tell the future of love, and although no trace of such a poem has been uncovered, Pessoa did leave various (still unpublished) prose fragments in English for an essay likewise titled ‘Anteros’, into which he probably thought of incorporating ‘The Visual Lover’. The content of these various prose pieces confirms that Anteros, for Pessoa, opposes and transcends carnal love.

T
HE
V
ISUAL
L
OVER
(II) [5/58, typed]

A V
OYAGE
IN
EVER
M
ADE
(I) [4/80–81, ms.]

our own land, but only, of course, because it was no land at all
: ‘our own, which we’d left so far behind, who knows whether in that same world’ (alternate version)

A V
OYAGE
IN
EVER
M
ADE
(II) [5/4, ms.]

A V
OYAGE
IN
EVER
M
ADE
(III) [5/3, ms.] No title appears on the manuscript, but it seems to have been written for Pessoa’s unrealized ‘Voyage’.

A V
OYAGE
IN
EVER
M
ADE
(IV) [5/24, ms.] No title appears on the manuscript.

Appendix I: Texts Citing the Name of Vincent Guedes

AP- 1 [6/3, ms.] Marked
Preface
, this passage contains elements incorporated by Pessoa into the (presumably subsequent) Preface placed at the front of this edition.

AP- 2 [8/3, ms.]

autobiography of a man who never existed
: ‘biography of a man who never lived’ (alternate version)

AP- 3 [7/17, ms.]

‘Tout notaire a rêvé des sultanes’
: ‘Every notary has dreamed of sultanas’ (from Flaubert).