Pessoa

I read further yesterday in Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet, enough to appreciate his achievement - an incredibly record of the course of his adult life - about 20 years - of all his thoughts, fears, and obsessions. The book as noted yesterday is more like a long prose poem - and is definitely not a novel. It's pointless to read it straight through , but for fans of Pessoa it would make sense to have this at bedside to check in from time to time on his thoughts and ideas. The book is full of aphorisms, many depressing and wrought w loneliness: To love is merely to grow tired of being alone. Or: Any interest others take in us is a grave indelicate. The book is divided into 2 sections and from what I read in the second half - composed when FP was in his 50s - the writing is more grounded in a sense of place, w loving descriptions of Lisbon, longer entries (the book consists of +400 entries), and fewer pronouncements and aphorisms. I'll end w this quote tho: I write like someone asleep, and my whole life is like a receipt awaiting a signature.

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