FERNANDO PESSOA THE POET WITH MANY FACES

The first English biography of Fernando Pessoa, a universal writer whose work and life story are now within the reach of many thousands of readers. The Poet with Many Faces is the first English biography of Fernando Pessoa. Written in the 1970s, the book was supposed to be printed in 1974, but the Carnation Revolution interrupted the publishing plans. The typescript, found in a garage in Johannesburg, South Africa, is now finally published. It includes images and an anthology of Pessoa's poetry. Fernando Pessoa is not easy to get to know. even during his lifetime his friends remarked on a certain quicksilver quality about him that made it appear as though he was always slipping through their hands [...]. there still remains the barrier of his reticences, his pudor and his sensitivity and the constant retreat behind the masks by which he could both conceal and reveal. [...] we join him in his search for self-identity. perhaps because we feel it is a search for our own self-identity. or it may be a game. or a ritual. or a religion. it can be any of these according to how the puckish spirit of fernando pessoa rules. —hubert d. jennings