/lit/ - Literature

I need to thank you bastards again for spamming pic related. I'm halfway through and it has become one of my favorite books ever so far - the kind of book I would bring with me if I had to pick five and go live in a hut. Despite the title, I find that the attitude of Bernardo Soares towards life has something incredibly reassuring, in that it depicts the possibility for a man to be so solidly grounded in his inner world to become - almost - untouchable from external life. Yes, there is regret, yes, there is sadness. But it really helps to read about someone else for whom the inner life of 'dream', which I take to be the inner life of whoever fantasizes about life more intensely than participating in it.
The book truly depicts an inner attitude which I think is very common in places like this - and in modern life in general - and it is an absolute masterpiece in trying to show how one can settle in it, and how inner life is the most fundamental aspect of life. There is something radical about how Pessoa talks about his own inner life: first, in that no self-deception is allowed and, second, in recognizing how absolutely central this is to the life of anyone. It is almost neoplatonic in its revolving "inward" and examining his own soul and the way it perceives and imagines things... Again, an incredible book, sorry about the ramblings but I want to talk about it.

Has anyone read it here? Also, what other Pessoa can I read? I know that there is a lot accessible in my own language (italian) but I also know he wrote some poems in English (the esoteric poems?) and I would like to read those too. Anyone knows if there is something available? I'm having a hard time finding it.

Also, general Pessoa thread: if some anon has studied the guy throughly I'd like to hear more about him. I have to say, the whole heteronym business sounds incredibly modern to me, it's as if one persone exploded into a whole literature. It is really a unique, mysterious, and wonderfully deep author. A character out of a Kafka novel, only he lived in real life... Suggest secondary literature as well, then, if you have ideas! I'd really like to read more about this guy. I can read in multiple languages, so don't worry about that

>>13580360
see >>13581163
Honestly the OP reads like it was ripped from it's pages and I'd be very surprised to learn that OP hadn't read this book and didn't write his post with it VERY MUCH in mind.

Thoughts?

never read a book quite like this before, is there anything of similar vein that you'd recommend?

when does it get good? I'm 50 pages in and it's boring and feels like a chore except for some brief passages. Damn I read Proust and thought that was tedious when reading the 4th book but this... damn

I'm currently reading The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. It describes perfectly how depression can eventually create detachment from important experiences in human life. It describes how one's world shrinks to only encompass one's own mind. The rest of the world doesn't register in a person's mind, and conversely, the world doesn't register that person's existence due to their disconnection. I can deeply identify with the wish to have no expectations or ambitions in life, simply because it's hard enough to just live. I really appreciate this book so far, even though it's a bit confusing to follow at times.