Fernando Pessoa
Tudo vale a pena se a alma não é pequena
Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa
(13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer,
literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher, described as one
of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of
the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and
translated from English and French.
Pessoa was a prolific writer, and not only under his own name, for he
created approximately seventy-five others. He did not call them all
pseudonyms because he felt that some did not capture their true
independent intellectual life and instead called them
heteronyms. These imaginary figures sometimes held unpopular or extreme views.
Translator Richard Zenith notes that Pessoa eventually established at least seventy-two heteronyms. According to Pessoa himself, there were three main heteronyms: Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis. The heteronyms possess distinct biographies, temperaments, philosophies, appearances, writing styles and even signatures.
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