“The Book of Disquiet” by Fernando Pessoa is a posthumous collection of writings described as a fragmentary or “factless autobiography.”
It was published in 1982, 47 years after Pessoa’s death, and is considered one of the most important works of 20th-century Portuguese literature.
The book is composed of a series of short, lyrical and reflective pieces that show the narrator’s inner life, philosophy and perspective on the human condition.
The narrator is a character named Bernardo Soares, an assistant bookkeeper in Lisbon, who Pessoa described as a semi-heteronym — a distinct persona that shares some of Pessoa’s own characteristics.
Through Soares’ ruminations, the book explores themes of loneliness, boredom, melancholy, beauty and the search for meaning in life.
The fragments range from brief observations and aphorisms to longer, more discursive passages that delve into existential questions.
The writing style is highly poetic and psychological, with Soares often analyzing his thoughts and emotions in great detail.
The book lacks a linear narrative, instead presenting a collage-like collection of impressions, musings and fragmentary experiences.
It explores several key themes that continue to resonate with modern readers.
Soares grapples with feelings of isolation, disconnection and a lack of purpose within the modern urban environment.
This theme of existential loneliness and the difficulty of finding meaning in an indifferent world speaks to the modern experience of urban anonymity and social fragmentation.
The book’s contemplation of the human condition and the struggle to derive significance from the mundane details of everyday life resonates with modern readers’ existential quests.
The book’s fragmented, non-linear structure mirrors Soares’ own sense of a fragmented, unstable identity.
This theme of the modern self as a collection of shifting perspectives and experiences, rather than a unified whole, echoes the postmodern understanding of identity.
Pessoa’s innovative use of a heteronym and his experimental, modernist literary style have cemented his reputation as one of the most influential and important Portuguese writers of the 20th century.
Many of his works have been translated and studied extensively worldwide.
