The Book of Disquiet


The Book of Disquiet is a work by the Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa. Published posthumously, The Book of Disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who introduced it as a "factless autobiography".
The publication was credited to Bernardo Soares, one of the author's alternate writing names, which he called a semi-heteronym, and had a preface attributed to Fernando Pessoa, another alternate writing name or orthonym.

Editions

Much studied by "Pessoan" critics, who have different interpretations regarding the book's proper organization, The Book of Disquiet was first published in Portuguese in 1982, 47 years after Pessoa's death. The book has seen publication in Spanish, German, Italian, French, English, and Dutch, and 1998 ). The Book in 1991 had four English editions by different translators: Richard Zenith, Iain Watson, Alfred MacAdam, and Margaret Jull Costa. The Book is a bestseller, especially in Spanish, Italian, and German.
The book appeared on the Norwegian Book Club's list of the all-time 100 best works of literature, based on the responses of 100 authors from 54 countries.

Interpretations

Teresa Sobral Cunha, who edited the first version with Jacinto do Prado Coelho and Maria Aliete Galhoz in 1982, considers there to be two authors of The Book of Disquiet: Vicente Guedes in the first phase, and the aforementioned Bernardo Soares.
However, António Quadros considers the first phase of the book to belong to Pessoa himself. The second phase, more personal and diary-like, is the one credited to Bernardo Soares.
Richard Zenith, editor of a new Portuguese edition in 1998, took the option of presenting a single volume, as in his English translation of 1991. In his introduction, he writes that "if Bernardo Soares does not measure up to the full Pessoa, neither are his diary writings the sum total of Disquietude, to which he was after all a johnny-come-lately. The Book of Disquietude was various books, with various authors, and even the word disquietude changes meaning as time passes."

Translations into English

  • The Book of Disquietude, tr. Richard Zenith. Based on the 1982 Edições Ática edition, edited by Jacinto do Prado Coelho.
  • The Book of Disquiet, tr. Margaret Jull Costa. Based on the 1986 Feltrinelli edition, edited by Maria José de Lancastre.
  • The Book of Disquiet, tr. Richard Zenith. Based on the 1998 Assírio & Alvim edition, edited by Richard Zenith.
  • The Book of Disquiet: The Complete Edition, tr. Margaret Jull Costa. Based on the 2013 Tinta-da-china edition, edited by Jerónimo Pizarro.
  • The Book of Disquiet, tr. Alfred Mac Adam.
  • The Book of Disquiet: A Selection, tr. Iain Watson.