Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Pedro Sepúlveda (NOVA University Lisbon)
Prof. Dr. Jorge Alberto Uribe Lozada (EAFIT University)
Abstract:
The poem Autopsychography, by the Portuguese Modernist poet Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), exposes both a theory of writing and an aesthetic program, according to which the poet is always a feigner, never being able to express his intimate feelings. Usually read as a decisive theory for the understanding of Pessoa’s creation of fictional authors, which he called heteronyms, this poem should be read considering its specific time and place of publication. The poem was published in the literary journal Presença, in november 1932, as a particular reaction, in terms of a subtle controversial dispute, to the principles of literary creation advocated by the journal directors.
What Fernando Pessoa wrote is not equivalent to a collection of poems or prose texts meant to be read separately, nor, as they say in Portugal, "ao calhas". Like an amphitheater with multiple entrances, all of them converge towards the stage. Despite the undeniable importance of esotericism to Pessoa, the architectural analogy that governs his work is not the labyrinth. "The Man of Porlock" serves as an apt example of this concept; rather than existing as an isolated piece, it stands as a distinct entrance to the vast amphitheater of Pessoa's work, emphasizing key aesthetic and humanistic concerns such as the idea of interruption, immortality, and belonging.
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Location
Jacobi Passage, Seminar Room 8, Kröpeliner Str. 57, 18055 Rostock (at the 4th floor) and online via Zoom