The workshop is open to interested students and the general public.
Workshop Global Studies
Origins and Originality: Cultural and Literary European and American Influences on Fernando Pessoa’s Work
Origens e Originalidade: influencias culturais e literarias europeias e americanas sobre a obra de Fernando Pessoa
Origines et Originalite : influences culturelles et litte raires europe ennes et ame ricaines sur l’oeuvre de Fernando Pessoa
The Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) was born into a family of poets and diplomats and spent his youth in South Africa, where he enjoyed a sound education. He was able to express himself not only in Portuguese and English, but also in French and Latin. These languages allowed him access as well to other cultural traditions, including the Germanic. According to Pessoa himself, his work united the "best" artistic influences that the world could offer. Fernando Pessoa produced an entire "cosmopolitan" literature that was influenced by both ancient and modern models: from Horace to Baudelaire, Goethe to Whitman, Shakespeare to Chekhov, Pessoa read and was influenced in his own work by them all.
The Workshop will be dedicated to the "origins" of his work that can be traced to his European and American influences, as well as to the "originality" of his unique cultural theory and practice as found in his heteronymy. It will also provide a platform for a discussion of the current state of Pessoa research, and for scholars drawn from Europe and the Americas to meet one another and exchange ideas on the author’s work
For those requiring registration to obtain course credits, please contact andrea.mueller@cgs.unibe.ch
