Message Paperback – September 15, 2007

Anything by Pessoa is good!

If you are wondering how the portuguese are like, Pessoa's book will give you a hint. Unfortunately things haven't changed much since the author's time. Once a great nation of sailors and of a great world wide empire, nothing remains but a dull far away memory of what we were. We tend to live to much from the glories of the past without ever thinking of the possible glories of the future. We live in the shadow of Camões's epic poem "Os Lusíadas" still thinking it was the greatest portuguese literary work ever written. On the 25th of April 1974 a new generation raised from the fall of a dictatorship of almost 30 years. But those who gave birth to the revolution are now those who perpetuate the social differences between rich and poor, good and bad, high and low. Ironic isn't it? As Pessoa, I still have hope. This people is made of hope although lacking some iniciative to actually make a difference... If something goes wrong, blame it on the government. If something goes right, thank God for it. The Fifth Empire hasn't arrived yet, and I hardly think it ever will.Pessoa is one of the greatest portuguese writers of all time but he's not the only one. I also reccomend (if a translated version is available)Mário de Sá-Carneiro, José Saramago, Virgílio Ferreira, Eça de Queiroz, Antero de Quental. These are the so-called classics, just to get you started in the discovery of portuguese literature.

The translation could be better.It is nice to have the original text and the translation side by side.

I'm a big Fan of Fernando Pessoa and I'm not a happy person regarding translations, I think something always get missed during the translation process. I needed to buy an English version of "mensagem" to an Essay at Uni and this book really manage to capture every essence of Pessoa language.