Ricardo Reis is a poet, he is an elegiac poet who will achieve a certain success, but above all he is himself, in turn, a character, one of Fernando Pessoa’s pseudonyms. The year Ricardo Reis died It is thus a poetic novel, a Lisbon novel, but also a double or triple novel, a reflection of the thirties and its shadow, the shadow of the disappearing empire, the shadow of the installed dictatorship, the shadow of the disappearing empire. The Spanish War that began and the shadow of this man, the character to be written, Fernando Pessoa, who had just died on November 30, 1935. The year Ricardo Reis died Translated into French by Claude Fages.
Continuing the creative gesture of Fernando Pessoa
Ricardo Reis is the invention of Fernando Pessoa, a pseudonym, and a literary character in a gallery of characters. Historian Yves Leonard traces Ricardo Reis’ journey upon his return from Brazil:“For the Salazar regime, the return of this figure has a special resonance and meaning; he is a very rich character“.
Sarah Grönhagen describes the 1980s and the writing of historical novels by José Saramago, whom she describes as a “researching novelist.” Silvia Amorim recalls the committed dimension of the author who places this character in this dictatorial regime, and Ricardo Reis will be able to point out the contradictions of the regime without criticizing it.
Extracts :
“I love roses from Adonis Gardens.
Lydia, I love these roses, these folders,
Because on this day they were born,
Within the same day they die.
For them light is eternal, ever since
Long after the sun they are born, and they expire
Before Apollo left
His apparent journey“.
Today’s guests:
Mathias Ennard receives:
qualitative:
Actress: Elodie Hooper
music :
The Dance of Maguas* by Misia
Archives :
- José Saramago in front of Alan Feinstein’s microphone on France Culture
