◎Zhou Miao
What is it that enables a nearly 500-page masterpiece like "The Book of Disquiet" to transcend the barriers of time and language and so wonderfully touch the hearts of readers around the world?
A work that is difficult to classify
It is difficult to classify: it has a certain narrative and confession, but it is not a novel or a diary; it has no coherent plot and no specific characters. It is a typical "work in progress" (work in progress), with the courage of avant-garde literature in the early 20th century and a profound reflection on the European artistic tradition. Its text is full of fluidity and jumping, and can be read completely randomly, but it also has a certain internal order. Its creation spans more than 20 years, and has two creative styles, the early and late ones, but the styles are intertwined and not deliberately unified. Although there is "book" in the name, it really does not look like a complete book: there is no final draft, and there are still many places in the original manuscript that are difficult to read. No matter how carefully it is combined and interpreted, there is always a sense of incompleteness and indelibility that is difficult to erase. A sense of brokenness. Many of the passages even read like sleepwalking: these are undoubtedly words written when extremely sleepy or half asleep, and they are also a kind of wandering and exploration in deep consciousness.
It is prose, but its author is first and foremost a poet, and he is also a dramatic poet who likes to direct and act on his own: he is good at writing in different styles, and can naturally imagine different authors for them and arrange distinctive scenes for them. Their personalities and intriguing life experiences allow them to interact with each other, and they even sometimes join in. Of course, this dramatic poet also created fictional authors for "The Book of Disquiet": Vicente Guedes in the early period and Bernardo Soares in the later period. The former is mysterious and vague, while the latter has obvious overlap with the poet himself: they are both enigmatic bachelors, hiding in the city, walking calmly in the bustling streets and alleys of Lisbon, going to the business houses where they work and the cafes they frequent. In between, I write silently in the fragments of day and long nights, facing the universe and my heart.
Pessoa's reputation
Before his death at the age of 47, the poet was almost never burdened by fame and was only well-known in a very small literary and artistic circle. But even those who are very close friends can hardly imagine that the works left by this strange friend are so vast and complex, so profound and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. These works have attracted and challenged generations of editors, readers and scholars. Now, nearly a century after his death, the poet has long been renowned for his originality and drama, and his works are undisputed modern classics. In European or Portuguese-speaking academic circles, a relatively standard introduction is as follows: Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), the highest representative of Portuguese modernist literature, a giant of European modernist literature, and an important connection point between Portuguese literature and world literature.
In Portugal, Pessoa is as famous as the great poet Camões and is the core of the country's classic literature. This kind of "national" honor will inevitably make readers feel a certain distance from his works, and even feel intimidated. The poet seemed to have foreseen the fate of his works in later generations during his lifetime - he once expressed his willingness to be the kind of writer who is not famous but is read by people, and does not want to be a household name but is not read by anyone.
However, although his works do contain many extremely difficult and obscure contents, Pessoa still has a large number of readers around the world and is the most well-known Portuguese/Portuguese writer most loved by foreign readers. Just by looking at "The Book of Disquiet", you can appreciate its charm: since it became a sensation in the literary world in the 1980s, this book has been reprinted and reprinted in endlessly, translated into various languages and re-translated continuously; numerous cross-field studies have been conducted around it , continues to this day; it was adapted into a movie a few years ago... It can be said that it is the choice and love of readers around the world, rather than official promotion, that has achieved Pessoa's unshakable reputation.
Chinese readers also seem to have a special liking for "The Book of Disquiet". As of 2021, there are three translations in China. The Yazhong version co-translated by Jin Xinyi and I is the fourth translation and the first complete translation from Portuguese. The original text we chose is "The Book of Disquiet" published by Portugal's "China Ink" in 2014 and edited by Colombian scholar Jeronimo Pizarro.This new translation can meet Chinese readers in 2022, the 40th anniversary of the original publication, which is also a special fate.
Flexible "foreigner" perspective
Interestingly, it is not easy for Portuguese scholars to understand the fate between Pessoa and foreign readers. Jacinto Dubrato Coelho, the first Portuguese expert dedicated to studying Pessoa's language style, pointed out that as an innovative language master, the Portuguese language used by Pessoa actually had obvious irregularities. . This is related to the poet's fate: Although Pessoa was born in the center of Lisbon, he spent his boyhood with his family in Durban, South Africa, receiving a complete British education. Portuguese is Pessoa's native language, but the Portuguese he uses in his creations is highly individual. He also writes in French and English. As early as high school, his English writing stood out among his native English-speaking classmates. In Pessoa's time, the Portuguese intellectual and literary circles were deeply influenced by France, but he uniquely inherited the British culture. The strong independent spirit and the exotic temperament that penetrate into the bone marrow are perfectly integrated and inseparable.
This combination deeply penetrates into his literary creation, especially reflected in his observation and interaction with the surrounding environment. He said in "The Book of Disquiet": "Suddenly I am independent of the world. I see all this from the height of the spiritual roof. I am independent of the world. To see is to be at a distance. To see clearly is to be still. To analyze is to become A foreigner. Everyone passes by me without touching me." (Page 246)
It is this flexible "foreigner" perspective that allows Pessoa to remain in his hometown for a long time after returning to his hometown. Being a foreigner also maintains the unparalleled sense of surprise and freshness in the text. The French scholar Robert Bréchon beautifully titled his biography of Pessoa "The Strange Foreigner" (1996), which is truly insightful. This compatriot of Baudelaire was keenly aware that what Pessoa created for the Portuguese language was precisely "a new frisson." This kind of trembling often resonates with English literature in poetry creation; in prose creation, it is mostly inspired by French prose classics, especially "The Book of Disquiet".
The musicality and image of "The Book of Disquiet"
In "The Book of Disquiet", the author always pays close attention to the "inner landscape" (Part 83) and questions whether the so-called "reality" is indeed real. In his view, the "reality" that people take for granted is based on complex personal perceptions and is often obscured in banal expressions. How does
make life real? Only literature. "In the final analysis, all literature strives to make life real. All impressions are intransmissible unless we make them literary. Young children are very literary because they speak what they feel, Rather than based on what others say and what people should feel." (Part 266) To this end, we must break the barriers of ubiquitous traditions and habits, and use childlike straightforwardness to expose the reality in the continuous rebirth of language. "To express! To know how to express! To know to exist through written sounds and intellectual images! All this is the meaning of life: everything else is just men and women, hypothetical love and imaginary pride, excuses for digestion and forgetfulness, squirming Human beings, like insects, are exposed under the abstract boulder of the meaningless blue sky when the stone is lifted." (Part 266)
For this reason, "The Book of Disquiet" describes Lisbon's skylight and cloud shadows, wind, rain, thunder and lightning, The description of the seasonal changes is breathtaking. The complex and subtle changes in light are expressed through the ingenious combination of words and phrases, which is endlessly memorable. It is like a cocktail with extremely rich layers and is unforgettable in the mouth.
Pessoa has an extraordinary grasp of words and has great confidence in the power of language expression. He is not greedy for worldly enjoyment at all, but is obsessed with the "sensual pleasure made into flesh" brought by the rhythm of words (Article 333). The commendable expressions in "The Book of Disquiet", those inner landscapes that can produce musical effects and evoke visual images, indeed confirm the author's special belief in the art of prose: "Free speech contains the words to speak and think about the world." All possible.” (Part 331) It seems that the love and cherishment of “The Book of Disquiet” by readers around the world may be due to this extraordinary persistence in literature: we understand reality through literature, and we also construct it through literature. Breathe freely in the world.
As translators, in order to enable Chinese readers to more directly appreciate the "voice of writing" and "images of intelligence" in "The Book of Disquiet", we chose to reproduce the original text as much as possible when translating. The musicality and visual sense are expected to convey the unique warmth of the original text as much as possible, allowing readers to understand that its author is not only a "strange foreigner", but also deeply believes that he is a "brother of all people" (Part 422). If "The Book of Restlessness" is a work written by Pessoa when he was tired and insomnia. I believe that it can also provide comfort to everyone in their sleepless nights, and help us transcend the difficulties of reality and open up our perceptions and dreams. space.
