Writings on Art and Poetical Theory

“Sincerity is the one great artistic crime. Insincerity is the second greatest.”

In addition to his literary and fictional works, Fernando Pessoa wrote a multiplicity of theoretical texts concerning literature and aesthetics. In Writings on Art and Poetical Theory we see Pessoa exploring, under the guise of various heteronyms, general theories on poetics, the poetry produced by his other heteronyms, and the uses and abuses of criticism. Also included are essays on translation, the sensationist movement, and the history of English literature.

This edition, prepared by Nuno Ribeiro and Cláudia Souza, provides a fascinating overview of Pessoa’s writings on art and poetic theory—most of which are presented here for the first time to English readers—thereby opening the way for future studies on one of the most significant authors of Portuguese modernism.