A special and rather beautiful book, the studied tribute of many artists and writers to the unusual genius of Fernando Pessoa, based around a diverse selection of his work. Several biographical and literary essays are also included, penned by some of his most eminent interrogators; Octavio Paz and Roy Campbell amongst others. It is the Mexican Paz who points out the strong Anglo-Saxon influence on Pessoa who spoke and wrote English since his boyhood in South Africa.

Pessoa, despite his ‘young fogey’ dress and manners, was part of a strong modernist and avant-garde current and this is brought out in a very appealing way by the reproduction of the covers of literary magazines of the time with their advanced typographic design and Futurist graphics. There is an equally fascinating photo-essay on Pessoa, his friends and family and on the very charming-looking bars and cafés he spent half his life in.

The greatest achievement of this book though is to reflect so well, in its diversity of sources, Pessoa’s notoriously fragmented artistic persona. He was a man who wrote in several distinct voices and who claimed ‘to pretend is to know yourself’. He was a grand pioneer in fact of the latest stage in the human quest for a developed individuality. He was so individual that he transcended individuality itself and played with it instead; a theme explored at length in Paz’s contribution to this book. Other highlights must be the twenty-two colour plates of paintings inspired by Pessoa’s character and work; particularly the astonishing portraits by Pessoa’s friend Almada Negreiros and by the contemporary painter José Joâo Brito.

There is a selection here of Pessoa’s writing from all major areas of his work, quite a treasure-trove, as well as a useful bibliography of articles and books about him in English.

‘I am nothing

I shall never be anything

I cannot wish to be anything

Apart from this I have in me all the world’s dreams’

from The Tobacco Shop p92