This paper attempts to draw a parallel between Fernão Mendes Pinto, the sixteenth-century adventurer, explorer and writer who spent twenty-one years travelling in the Middle and Far East, and Fernando Pessoa, the twentieth-century poet who spent his working life at the desks of commercial firms in downtown Lisbon. In Pinto’s case, the voyage was the actual physical movement from one place to another, through dangers and adventures, while in Pessoa the voyage was a immobile journey through the inner self. It is argued that Pinto’s book Peregrinação and Pessoa’s book Livro do desassossego can be read as entering a dialogue with each other. January 2012: José Blanco graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon. In 2004, after 43 years of service, he retired from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where he was Director from 1974 to 2004. In parallel with his professional career, since 1983 he has researched and promoted the work of Fernando Pessoa in Portugal and abroad. Participating in many international conferences and seminars, he delivered talks on Pessoa in the United Kingdom, the United States, Finland, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Japan, India, Israel, and Brazil. He published numerous articles and several books, his most recent book being the bibliography Pessoana: Bibliografia Passiva, Selectiva e Temática, 2 vols. (Assírio e Alvim, 2008). He is an Honorary Fellow of King’s College London and holds a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. |
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