Summary of The Book of DisquietÂ
“The Book of Disquiet” is a collection of diary entries, contemplations, and observations by the renowned Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa. The book spans 20 years of Pessoa’s life in Lisbon, or, more precisely, of the lives of Vicente Guedes and Bernardo Soares, two heteronyms used by Pessoa. “The Book of Disquiet” is a compendium of musings and reflections and an ode to the dull and solitary life of an accounting clerk in Lisbon.
Reasons to read The Book of DisquietÂ
“The Book of Disquiet” is a classic of modernist Portuguese literature. It is a fragmentary and unfinished work, published 47 years after Pessoa’s death. Readers should not expect a traditional novel with a developed plot. Fernando Pessoa is considered one of the greatest Portuguese writers of the 20th century, yet he remains an enigmatic figure. He published primarily poems, essays, and literary criticism under more than 70 assumed names, including Ricardo Reis (the protagonist of José Saramago’s novel “The Year and Death of Ricardo Reis”), Alberto Caeiro, and Alvaro de Campos. For a lighter read, you might try Fernando Pessoa’s still-useful 1925 tourist guide “Lisbon, What the Tourist should see”.
Setting: Lisbon (Portugal)
Original title: Livro do Desassossego
Composto por Bernardo Soares, ajudante de guarda-livros na cidade de Lisboa
Year of publication: 1982
Nr of pages: 544
