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A review by kisaly
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
5.0
This is a book that's not a book written by one or two nonexistent authors who are not the author, and is difficult to extricate from its origin story.
The first part (in the Costa translation) of the choose-your-own-adventure fragments reads like Proust joined an emo band and kept a Myspace page. The second part is like the diary of a depressed existential philosopher - if that diary were torn up into fragments and thrown into a tornado. Got it? Cool. Modernism!
It's worth mentioning that there are huge differences between various editions of this book. Not just the translations, though that's part of it, but also how the book is constructed and what's included. Costa's translation is roughly chronological and includes additional material from a second "author," while I believe Zenith's translation mostly pulls from the later content and is arranged more thematically. On balance, I think I like Zenith's version better for its prose quality, but they're both good.
Not a book for everyone, but boy oh boy is there a lot to chew on here.
The first part (in the Costa translation) of the choose-your-own-adventure fragments reads like Proust joined an emo band and kept a Myspace page. The second part is like the diary of a depressed existential philosopher - if that diary were torn up into fragments and thrown into a tornado. Got it? Cool. Modernism!
It's worth mentioning that there are huge differences between various editions of this book. Not just the translations, though that's part of it, but also how the book is constructed and what's included. Costa's translation is roughly chronological and includes additional material from a second "author," while I believe Zenith's translation mostly pulls from the later content and is arranged more thematically. On balance, I think I like Zenith's version better for its prose quality, but they're both good.
Not a book for everyone, but boy oh boy is there a lot to chew on here.