Publication
New Directions (1997), Edition: Reprint, 136 pages
Original publication date
1994
Collections
Awards
Description
Dr. Pereira is an aging, lonely, overweight journalist who has failed to notice the menacing cloud of fascism over Salazarist Lisbon. One day he meets Montiero Rossi, an aspiring young writer whose anti-fascist fervor is as strong as Pereira's apolitical languor. Eventually, breaking out of the shell of his own inhibitions, Pereira reluctantly rises to heroism--and this arc is "one of the most intriguing and appealing character studies in recent European fiction" (Kirkus).
User reviews
LibraryThing member pokarekareana
Lisbon in 1938, and Dr Pereira swelters in the heat of summer and political oppression. Germany, Spain and Italy have fallen into Fascist hands, but as a journalist himself, he feels no compunction about publishing controversial works by foreign authors. Still mourning the loss of his wife years
Tabucchi has produced a masterpiece. It isn’t often that I get to say that, but this book is fantastically well-written; the sense of lingering, tormenting heat was palpable, and I found the character of Pereira intriguing, since he seems to live so much in the shadows until the last few pages, when he is suddenly thrust into another world. The ending itself, though not entirely unexpected, brought this beautiful story to an exhilarating conclusion and I had been worried that Tabucchi might ruin a great book by writing, well, something other than what he did. My concerns were unfounded, and this was easily one of the best books I’ve read in 2010.
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earlier, he finds himself dissatisfied, overweight and frustrated by his lot in life. He takes on an assistant, Rossi, to prepare obituaries for the cultural section of the newspaper for which he works, but is baffled by Rossi’s seemingly inability to separate politics from eulogy. Finding himself drawn into Rossi’s underground, and attracting the hostile attention of the editor-in-chief, Pereira begins to find his voice stifled until a tragic event forces him to stand up for his own principles. Tabucchi has produced a masterpiece. It isn’t often that I get to say that, but this book is fantastically well-written; the sense of lingering, tormenting heat was palpable, and I found the character of Pereira intriguing, since he seems to live so much in the shadows until the last few pages, when he is suddenly thrust into another world. The ending itself, though not entirely unexpected, brought this beautiful story to an exhilarating conclusion and I had been worried that Tabucchi might ruin a great book by writing, well, something other than what he did. My concerns were unfounded, and this was easily one of the best books I’ve read in 2010.
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LibraryThing member papalaz
This is by far the best book I have yet received under the LibraryThing Early Reviewers programme. It is a brilliantly conceived and beautifully written text set in Portugal during the Spanish Civil War as Salazar's government heads down the road to join Spain and Germany and Italy in fascism and
Our protagonist Pereira, to call him a hero would be to over-egg his bravery, is not, as one might have imagined, the narrator. Instead Tabucchi uses an unusual device providing a kind of third party narrator who reports events and Pereira's interiors using constructs like "Pereira maintains". This device creates a strange jarring early on in the text as one wonders what the device signifies but as one becomes used to it several possibilities present themselves.
As the plot unfurls and events begin to threaten, Pereira's previous ignorance starts to evaporate and the device casts a mental shadow over the reader. By the half way point this reader became convinced that "Pereira maintains" is a sure indicator that Pereira is in some kind of custody and that the narrator is implicated. The young couple who have entered Pereira's safe and assured life gradually disrupt his certainty and apathy and he slowly becomes aware that storm clouds have gathered without him noticing.
Tabbuchi handles a series of tone changes with steady confidence and great aplomb until toward the end he produces a Kafkaesque feel that even leaves one doubting the supposed end of the book.
This is a tour de force from Tabucchi and I have to congratulate both the translator and the publishers for their sensitive handling of this important novel.
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authoritarianism. Our protagonist Pereira, to call him a hero would be to over-egg his bravery, is not, as one might have imagined, the narrator. Instead Tabucchi uses an unusual device providing a kind of third party narrator who reports events and Pereira's interiors using constructs like "Pereira maintains". This device creates a strange jarring early on in the text as one wonders what the device signifies but as one becomes used to it several possibilities present themselves.
As the plot unfurls and events begin to threaten, Pereira's previous ignorance starts to evaporate and the device casts a mental shadow over the reader. By the half way point this reader became convinced that "Pereira maintains" is a sure indicator that Pereira is in some kind of custody and that the narrator is implicated. The young couple who have entered Pereira's safe and assured life gradually disrupt his certainty and apathy and he slowly becomes aware that storm clouds have gathered without him noticing.
Tabbuchi handles a series of tone changes with steady confidence and great aplomb until toward the end he produces a Kafkaesque feel that even leaves one doubting the supposed end of the book.
This is a tour de force from Tabucchi and I have to congratulate both the translator and the publishers for their sensitive handling of this important novel.
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LibraryThing member elkiedee
This short novel by the Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi is set in Lisbon, Portugal in 1938. Salazar’s government at the time was sympathetic to fascism, as represented by Mussolini’s regime in Italy and General Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War.
Pereira is a journalist working for a
Then he reads an article by a young man and offers him work, a decision which is going to shake up his life. Monteiro Rossi turns out to be totally set on writing unprintably subversive articles extolling the revolutionary political views of his heroes. Pereira is soon introduced to his attractive and fiercely opinionated girlfriend Marta.
Pereira quickly finds himself committed to supporting these young dissidents and their views, whatever the cost to him. The story is told using the phrase “Pereira maintains” several times on each page – he is trying to explain what happened, as if he was sucked in despite himself.
I liked this book a lot. There is a lot to think about within it, and it has made me want to find out more about Portuguese history, in the context of Europe in 1938 and the looming war for or against fascism. Pereira has been trying not to take sides, but in the story he feels compelled to take the side of what he feels is right, at any cost. Interestingly, when this book was first published in Italy in 1994, it was taken up enthusiastically by those campaigning against the right wing Berlusconi in the elections there.
I think I will probably try to reread it this year as I’m interested in the themes Tabucchi is exploring and I think I might have missed a lot on the first reading.
This English translation by Patrick Creagh was first published in 1995. This Canongate reissue is a compact and appealing hardback with an introduction by Mohsin Hamid explaining why this is his favourite book, and a lovely addition to my bookshelves - thank you.
Pereira is a journalist working for a
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small evening paper and has been asked to set up a culture section. He does not think of himself as particularly political, just a man getting on with a rather dull, unsatisfying job and mourning his dead wife. Maybe he can promote the literature and values he loves without causing any trouble in his new position – he translates a 19th century Balzac story from French for inclusion in the paper. Then he reads an article by a young man and offers him work, a decision which is going to shake up his life. Monteiro Rossi turns out to be totally set on writing unprintably subversive articles extolling the revolutionary political views of his heroes. Pereira is soon introduced to his attractive and fiercely opinionated girlfriend Marta.
Pereira quickly finds himself committed to supporting these young dissidents and their views, whatever the cost to him. The story is told using the phrase “Pereira maintains” several times on each page – he is trying to explain what happened, as if he was sucked in despite himself.
I liked this book a lot. There is a lot to think about within it, and it has made me want to find out more about Portuguese history, in the context of Europe in 1938 and the looming war for or against fascism. Pereira has been trying not to take sides, but in the story he feels compelled to take the side of what he feels is right, at any cost. Interestingly, when this book was first published in Italy in 1994, it was taken up enthusiastically by those campaigning against the right wing Berlusconi in the elections there.
I think I will probably try to reread it this year as I’m interested in the themes Tabucchi is exploring and I think I might have missed a lot on the first reading.
This English translation by Patrick Creagh was first published in 1995. This Canongate reissue is a compact and appealing hardback with an introduction by Mohsin Hamid explaining why this is his favourite book, and a lovely addition to my bookshelves - thank you.
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LibraryThing member eairo
It is 1938, the civil war in Spain is raging, news from Germany are worrying and Portugal is going the same way.
Pereira is an aging Portuguese journalist, working as a sole editor of the cultural section of a "little but respectable" afternoon paper in Lisbon. A man who has lost his wife, who is
Pereira over-indugles his sorrow, he eats a bit too much and drinks all too many sweet lemon juices. He would like things remain the same, or rather he'd like things be like they were when he was young (and not so overweight).
But the world changes and not in a good way in Pereiras opinion, and the world won't leave him in peace, for whatever Pereira wants he still lives in this world. All the way he fights an internal fight between his wanting to remain unnoticed and as is and his urge to do the right thing.
In the end he does the right thing, for better or for worse, but he becomes alive again.
The book is narrated in a very interesting double third person way. There clearly is an outside narrator but he quite often adds the words "Pereira declares" or "declares Pereira" so the reader cannot for a moment forget that this is some sort of retelling of a story or a story based on documents, like police interview reports, might one think considering the way of the world back then... but that is not stated and that is not the only possible option.
There is not much action, and the way Pereira is he cannot provide much of that: he's fat, he does not want do anything, he does not want anything to happen. No, there are conversations, thinking, Pereiras slow paced goings and comings---often to and from his favorite café where he eats omelettes and hears the news of the world from the waiter, because "the newspapers don't tell you anything real anymore"---and more conversations with Pereira's friends, boss, the concierge (possibly a police informer), doctors, and quite often with the portrait with his late wife.
Pereira's declarations provide a rich and deep image of a lost man finding himself in the middle of 1930s madness in Portugal, Europe and the World.
Pereira is an aging Portuguese journalist, working as a sole editor of the cultural section of a "little but respectable" afternoon paper in Lisbon. A man who has lost his wife, who is
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lost in nostalgia and lost in the world going mad around him. He is gaining weight and his heart is not well.Pereira over-indugles his sorrow, he eats a bit too much and drinks all too many sweet lemon juices. He would like things remain the same, or rather he'd like things be like they were when he was young (and not so overweight).
But the world changes and not in a good way in Pereiras opinion, and the world won't leave him in peace, for whatever Pereira wants he still lives in this world. All the way he fights an internal fight between his wanting to remain unnoticed and as is and his urge to do the right thing.
In the end he does the right thing, for better or for worse, but he becomes alive again.
The book is narrated in a very interesting double third person way. There clearly is an outside narrator but he quite often adds the words "Pereira declares" or "declares Pereira" so the reader cannot for a moment forget that this is some sort of retelling of a story or a story based on documents, like police interview reports, might one think considering the way of the world back then... but that is not stated and that is not the only possible option.
There is not much action, and the way Pereira is he cannot provide much of that: he's fat, he does not want do anything, he does not want anything to happen. No, there are conversations, thinking, Pereiras slow paced goings and comings---often to and from his favorite café where he eats omelettes and hears the news of the world from the waiter, because "the newspapers don't tell you anything real anymore"---and more conversations with Pereira's friends, boss, the concierge (possibly a police informer), doctors, and quite often with the portrait with his late wife.
Pereira's declarations provide a rich and deep image of a lost man finding himself in the middle of 1930s madness in Portugal, Europe and the World.
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LibraryThing member thorold
Sostiene Pereira is an absolute gem of a novel. It's set in Lisbon in the hot summer of 1938, and it is as drenched in lovely Lisbon atmosphere as any of Saramago's novels. Pereira is a recently-widowed, middle-aged literary journalist with a heart problem. He's got an undemanding job running the
Of course, narrative inevitability dictates that he's going to be confronted with a situation where he has to make a choice whether to keep his eyes shut or to stand up and make an act of futile resistance. And we know from experience how easily that sort of story becomes crass and insensitive when it's written by someone who wasn't around at the time. But that's not the case here. Tabucchi establishes Pereira's character and the way that history challenges him with a vast amount of patience and subtlety. Tabucchi makes sure that we are drawn into engaging with Pereira and seeing what the world looks like from his point of view at the same time as we laugh at his little absurdities. Because there's so much repetition of settings, actions and phrases from chapter to chapter, this feels from the inside like a very slow-moving novel, but it actually packs a lot into a relatively small space (just over 200 pages).
There is a lot of discussion of the writers Pereira either talks about or doesn't talk about in his columns, and some more philosophical speculation about repentance, individuality and the nature of the soul (Pereira is dreadfully worried in the opening pages because he can't bring himself to believe in the resurrection of the body). All of which adds colour and humour as well as giving a bit more depth to the discussion of quietism vs. futile resistance. And there are also almost certainly more omelettes than I've ever come across in a single novel (which struck me, since I've spent a few holidays in Portugal where the only vegetarian dish anyone could offer me, day after day, was an omelette...).
Probably the most difficult thing about it is the word sostiene. It seems to mean so many things in Italian (holds, supports, affirms, undertakes, maintains, expresses, suffers,....), and Tabucchi uses it in just about every way he can think of, at least once or twice on every page of the book, to underscore everything Pereira does or says. It must be a big challenge for any translation. I looked at the opening pages of the translation by the British poet Patrick Creagh (thank you, Amazon!), who went for "declares": that seems to work pretty well in the text, but in the title it has the unfortunate effect of making it sound like a cricket novel.
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"culture" section of an undistinguished afternoon paper, and he is perfectly happy to lead a quiet, routine life, pursuing his interest in 19th century French literature and closing his eyes to all the nasty things that are going on in the world around him (and in Portugal in 1938, there's no shortage of those). Of course, narrative inevitability dictates that he's going to be confronted with a situation where he has to make a choice whether to keep his eyes shut or to stand up and make an act of futile resistance. And we know from experience how easily that sort of story becomes crass and insensitive when it's written by someone who wasn't around at the time. But that's not the case here. Tabucchi establishes Pereira's character and the way that history challenges him with a vast amount of patience and subtlety. Tabucchi makes sure that we are drawn into engaging with Pereira and seeing what the world looks like from his point of view at the same time as we laugh at his little absurdities. Because there's so much repetition of settings, actions and phrases from chapter to chapter, this feels from the inside like a very slow-moving novel, but it actually packs a lot into a relatively small space (just over 200 pages).
There is a lot of discussion of the writers Pereira either talks about or doesn't talk about in his columns, and some more philosophical speculation about repentance, individuality and the nature of the soul (Pereira is dreadfully worried in the opening pages because he can't bring himself to believe in the resurrection of the body). All of which adds colour and humour as well as giving a bit more depth to the discussion of quietism vs. futile resistance. And there are also almost certainly more omelettes than I've ever come across in a single novel (which struck me, since I've spent a few holidays in Portugal where the only vegetarian dish anyone could offer me, day after day, was an omelette...).
Probably the most difficult thing about it is the word sostiene. It seems to mean so many things in Italian (holds, supports, affirms, undertakes, maintains, expresses, suffers,....), and Tabucchi uses it in just about every way he can think of, at least once or twice on every page of the book, to underscore everything Pereira does or says. It must be a big challenge for any translation. I looked at the opening pages of the translation by the British poet Patrick Creagh (thank you, Amazon!), who went for "declares": that seems to work pretty well in the text, but in the title it has the unfortunate effect of making it sound like a cricket novel.
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LibraryThing member solla
I was reading along in Pereira Declares by Antonio Tabucchi - quickly because it is due today, and on hold so it can't be renewed - and I read a part where the doctor at a clinic/spa is telling about a new theory of personality. I misread the section at first. It was talking about a collection of
But I was mistaken. I reread it and a few moments later got the theory straight. The theory was not about the collective unconscious, but about an individual one. The idea is a person being made up of not one personality, but several, with a directing ego based primarily on one of them. And, it is this directing ego of the individual that can change from time to time, with a feeling of disquiet or even disruption when it is in the process of change.
The story occurs over a period of months. Pereira, who has been a crime reporter from some thirty years (also his wife died a few years before and he is stuck in his grief for her), is now employed in a position as editor of the culture page. Events are occurring in Portugal that are similar to those in Spain - a brigade from Portugal has been sent in support of Franco, there is censureship, etc. - but Perieira keeps his mind off of those things. Then he chances upon a magazine artical. This leads him to a young man, Monteiro Rossi, whom he offers a job writing obituaries of writers, and his girlfriend, Marta. The other characters are the Doctor who tells him the theory and suggests he might be in the middle of such a transformation, an anti-fascist Catholic priest, his boss at the paper who is thick with the pro-fascist government and a caretaker at his office who may be a police informant. Pereira finds himself helping Rossi without knowing why. In the course of his interaction with the young man, he is transformed from his personality of non-involvement to someone quite different.
Pereira is a full and endearing character. What is presented may be the equivalent in an individual of what happens just before something like the Berlin wall (or the Egyptian president resigns) when something that appears to be stable and indestructible suddenly falls away amid forces that had barely seemed present but now arise with their own irrepressable energy.
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souls, and there being a directing ego, that might change from time to time, causing unease when it did. The book is set in Portugal, at a time when the Spanish civil war is taking place in Spain between Franco and the republicans. So, I think, of Jung and the collective unconscious, through which at a deep level we are all connected, and I think, what a fascist version of Jung. Our collective unconscious taken over by some cheap bully ego.But I was mistaken. I reread it and a few moments later got the theory straight. The theory was not about the collective unconscious, but about an individual one. The idea is a person being made up of not one personality, but several, with a directing ego based primarily on one of them. And, it is this directing ego of the individual that can change from time to time, with a feeling of disquiet or even disruption when it is in the process of change.
The story occurs over a period of months. Pereira, who has been a crime reporter from some thirty years (also his wife died a few years before and he is stuck in his grief for her), is now employed in a position as editor of the culture page. Events are occurring in Portugal that are similar to those in Spain - a brigade from Portugal has been sent in support of Franco, there is censureship, etc. - but Perieira keeps his mind off of those things. Then he chances upon a magazine artical. This leads him to a young man, Monteiro Rossi, whom he offers a job writing obituaries of writers, and his girlfriend, Marta. The other characters are the Doctor who tells him the theory and suggests he might be in the middle of such a transformation, an anti-fascist Catholic priest, his boss at the paper who is thick with the pro-fascist government and a caretaker at his office who may be a police informant. Pereira finds himself helping Rossi without knowing why. In the course of his interaction with the young man, he is transformed from his personality of non-involvement to someone quite different.
Pereira is a full and endearing character. What is presented may be the equivalent in an individual of what happens just before something like the Berlin wall (or the Egyptian president resigns) when something that appears to be stable and indestructible suddenly falls away amid forces that had barely seemed present but now arise with their own irrepressable energy.
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LibraryThing member stillatim
One of the most quietly great great books you'll ever read, as well as one of the more enjoyable. It's hard to imagine anyone describing the slow creep of authoritarianism, and rebellion against it, with more calm authority than Tabucchi does here through the consciousness of the delightfully silly
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Pereira. And particularly wonderful is the reticence to explain to whom, precisely, Pereira is maintaining or declaring all of this. Show Less
LibraryThing member nicola26
I recieved a copy of this book through Firstreads. It took me quite a long time to get through it, as there wasn't really anything compelling me to keep reading. The beginning is very strong, and the book showed a lot of promise at the start, but definitely weakened as it went on. Pereira is an odd
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character. He lives on omelettes and lemonade, and works as a journalist for an evening paper. He's still grieving for his late wife, and talks to her picture on a regular basis. He's very gullible, and irrational. He hires a stranger to help him on his paper, and continues to pay him despite the fact that he hasn't produced any publishable articles. He also gives money to the man's cousin. Pereira is very set in his ways, and the book becomes very repetitive towards to end. I enjoyed it a lot, but it could have been much better. Show Less
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
Pereira Declares by Antonio Tabucci (translated by Patrick Creagh) is a slender novel set up as Pereira telling his story to a questioner, with the interrogator frequently adding "Pereira declares" to the end of paragraphs. Pereira is the corpulent and widowed editor of the culture page of a
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second-rate evening newspaper in Lisbon in 1938. He hires Rossi, a graduate student, to prepare obituaries of famous writers in advance, but Rossi doesn't quite manage the task, inserting comments into each article that renders the piece unpublishable in the pro-fascist atmosphere. The story builds slowly as Pereira attaches the same importance to what he's eaten or how he traveled to a place as he does to his changing views of the Portuguese political situation. Show Less
LibraryThing member wendyrey
A short novel set in 1930's Portugal. Pereira is an aging journalist for an obscure paper. He bumbles his way through life, talking to the photograph of his late wife, taking the waters and writing the culture pages. An ordinary man in difficult times,he reminds me of Mr Pooter in the Grossmith's
I found the constant use of the phrase ' Pereira maintains' a little irritating although it clearly adds to the gentle flow and near poetetic style.
Short ,elegant and well worth reading.
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'Diary of a Nobody' but instead of bumbling into silly situations Pereira drifts and bumbles into danger and bravery.I found the constant use of the phrase ' Pereira maintains' a little irritating although it clearly adds to the gentle flow and near poetetic style.
Short ,elegant and well worth reading.
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LibraryThing member sneuper
This book was a very pleasant surprise for me. I had never heard of this writer nor of this book. So, this Early Reviewers book was somewhat of an adventure for me. The narrative style is of course surprising, but fits the story well. When I finished the book, it made me wonder if the book was a
I loved the book. It gives you a lot to think about and helps to understand how it would be to live in a country under with that kind of regime.
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police interrogation (which means Pereira got caught after all) or if the book is a story he tells to a journalist maybe (which means he managed to flee to a safe country). Although there is little action in the book, the threat of a fascist regime is growing during the story, culminating in a tragic incident. And Pereira is a figure that is somewhat tragic (too fat, drinking lemonade, sweating) but is - through literature - able to take a stand.I loved the book. It gives you a lot to think about and helps to understand how it would be to live in a country under with that kind of regime.
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LibraryThing member Mromano
The main character is an interesting man who is a widower, talks to his wife's photograph, and loves food. Ultimately, this apolitical human being commits a moral act that thrusts him into politics. A well deserved addition to 501 Must Reads.
LibraryThing member solla
I was reading along in Pereira Declares by Antonio Tabucchi - quickly because it is due today, and on hold so it can't be renewed - and I read a part where the doctor at a clinic/spa is telling about a new theory of personality. I misread the section at first. It was talking about a collection of
But I was mistaken. I reread it and a few moments later got the theory straight. The theory was not about the collective unconscious, but about an individual one. The idea is a person being made up of not one personality, but several, with a directing ego based primarily on one of them. And, it is this directing ego of the individual that can change from time to time, with a feeling of disquiet or even disruption when it is in the process of change.
The story occurs over a period of months. Pereira, who has been a crime reporter from some thirty years (also his wife died a few years before and he is stuck in his grief for her), is now employed in a position as editor of the culture page. Events are occurring in Portugal that are similar to those in Spain - a brigade from Portugal has been sent in support of Franco, there is censureship, etc. - but Perieira keeps his mind off of those things. Then he chances upon a magazine artical. This leads him to a young man, Monteiro Rossi, whom he offers a job writing obituaries of writers, and his girlfriend, Marta. The other characters are the Doctor who tells him the theory and suggests he might be in the middle of such a transformation, an anti-fascist Catholic priest, his boss at the paper who is thick with the pro-fascist government and a caretaker at his office who may be a police informant. Pereira finds himself helping Rossi without knowing why. In the course of his interaction with the young man, he is transformed from his personality of non-involvement to someone quite different.
Pereira is a full and endearing character. What is presented may be the equivalent in an individual of what happens just before something like the Berlin wall (or the Egyptian president resigns) when something that appears to be stable and indestructible suddenly falls away amid forces that had barely seemed present but now arise with their own irrepressable energy.
Show More
souls, and there being a directing ego, that might change from time to time, causing unease when it did. The book is set in Portugal, at a time when the Spanish civil war is taking place in Spain between Franco and the republicans. So, I think, of Jung and the collective unconscious, through which at a deep level we are all connected, and I think, what a fascist version of Jung. Our collective unconscious taken over by some cheap bully ego.But I was mistaken. I reread it and a few moments later got the theory straight. The theory was not about the collective unconscious, but about an individual one. The idea is a person being made up of not one personality, but several, with a directing ego based primarily on one of them. And, it is this directing ego of the individual that can change from time to time, with a feeling of disquiet or even disruption when it is in the process of change.
The story occurs over a period of months. Pereira, who has been a crime reporter from some thirty years (also his wife died a few years before and he is stuck in his grief for her), is now employed in a position as editor of the culture page. Events are occurring in Portugal that are similar to those in Spain - a brigade from Portugal has been sent in support of Franco, there is censureship, etc. - but Perieira keeps his mind off of those things. Then he chances upon a magazine artical. This leads him to a young man, Monteiro Rossi, whom he offers a job writing obituaries of writers, and his girlfriend, Marta. The other characters are the Doctor who tells him the theory and suggests he might be in the middle of such a transformation, an anti-fascist Catholic priest, his boss at the paper who is thick with the pro-fascist government and a caretaker at his office who may be a police informant. Pereira finds himself helping Rossi without knowing why. In the course of his interaction with the young man, he is transformed from his personality of non-involvement to someone quite different.
Pereira is a full and endearing character. What is presented may be the equivalent in an individual of what happens just before something like the Berlin wall (or the Egyptian president resigns) when something that appears to be stable and indestructible suddenly falls away amid forces that had barely seemed present but now arise with their own irrepressable energy.
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LibraryThing member FPdC
This book is the portuguese translation of the italian original Sostiene Pereira, arguably the most famous novel of Trabucchi, an italian author who is also a world authority in Fernando Pessoa and portuguese literature. The story of a few summer months, in 1938, in the live of doutor Pereira, a
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middle aged journalist responsible for the weekly culture page of the newpaper "Lisboa." The contact with two youths involved in clandestine political activities against the fascist regime, and in support of republican Spain in the civil war across the border, starts by disturbing Pereira's daily routine, and end up changing his whole future. A very good reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member VivianeoftheLake
As I am portuguese I was instantly drawn to this book, so I requested it for the Early Reviewers.
The book is set in Lisbon in the 30's when we were under a dictatorship. The author picked a character that lived his lived in a state of numbness, brought on not only by the death of his wife but by
The way the main character Pereira awakens and takes moral action is so quintessential portuguese, that is testimony to the way the author who spends part of its time in Portugal has taken in the culture and the way of my people.
The book is set in Lisbon in the 30's when we were under a dictatorship. The author picked a character that lived his lived in a state of numbness, brought on not only by the death of his wife but by
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the sameness of a country that had no freedom and as it appeared then no future.The way the main character Pereira awakens and takes moral action is so quintessential portuguese, that is testimony to the way the author who spends part of its time in Portugal has taken in the culture and the way of my people.
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LibraryThing member neal_
"Pereira took a seat in a compartment where a woman reading a book was already seated. She was handsome, blonde and chic, with a wooden leg." Priceless!
Reading this book (in English) took no time at all and it was brilliant!
Reading this book (in English) took no time at all and it was brilliant!
LibraryThing member hazelk
If there is such thing as a beautifully written book, then this is it. And that says something for the translator too.
I was drawn quietly and ineluctably into the world of this ordinary, slightly more than middle-aged widower in 1930s Lisbon who undramatically starts to surprise us and who makes us
How many novels are as economical as this one in portraying humanity somehow shining through despite the odds?
I was drawn quietly and ineluctably into the world of this ordinary, slightly more than middle-aged widower in 1930s Lisbon who undramatically starts to surprise us and who makes us
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draw our breath as we get near the end of the novel hoping that nothing too terrible happens to him: will the fascists do their worst? How many novels are as economical as this one in portraying humanity somehow shining through despite the odds?
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LibraryThing member berthirsch
In Lisbon with AntonioTabucchi's curious hero Dr. Pereira, cultural page editor of a fascist leaning newspaper. In the late 30's with the Spanish Civil War next door, Pereira quietly protests by writing translations of French writers praising democratic ideals. Pereira Declares is a short novel by
Dr. Pereira is an intellectual interested in the highest ideals of literature and the democratic spirit as exhibited by the French. Living in Portugal at the time of fascistic governments in Germany and Spain, Portugal stands at a precipice; democracy or dictatorship.
In his small way, Pereira, a recent widower who converses daily with the photograph of his deceased his wife, tries to educate and influence the readership of the small evening newspaper he serves on as Editor of the Cultural pages. He writes translations of French writers (Balzac, Daudet) who illuminate liberty, freedom and the democratic spirit.
It is not long until his boss intervenes suggesting he start publishing Portuguese traditionalists. With the Spanish Civil War raging next door, Pereira is drawn in by a young writer and femme fatale who are doing all they can to elicit support for the republicans who are fighting against the dictator Franco.
Pereira’s favorite sounding board is a young doctor who eventually decides to relocate to France.
This is an entertaining short piece that captures the times, the late 1930’s, when the Iberian Peninsula served as the prologue to the coming calamities of Nazi Germany and WWII.
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the highly respected Italian novelist and journalist, Antonio Tabucchi.Dr. Pereira is an intellectual interested in the highest ideals of literature and the democratic spirit as exhibited by the French. Living in Portugal at the time of fascistic governments in Germany and Spain, Portugal stands at a precipice; democracy or dictatorship.
In his small way, Pereira, a recent widower who converses daily with the photograph of his deceased his wife, tries to educate and influence the readership of the small evening newspaper he serves on as Editor of the Cultural pages. He writes translations of French writers (Balzac, Daudet) who illuminate liberty, freedom and the democratic spirit.
It is not long until his boss intervenes suggesting he start publishing Portuguese traditionalists. With the Spanish Civil War raging next door, Pereira is drawn in by a young writer and femme fatale who are doing all they can to elicit support for the republicans who are fighting against the dictator Franco.
Pereira’s favorite sounding board is a young doctor who eventually decides to relocate to France.
This is an entertaining short piece that captures the times, the late 1930’s, when the Iberian Peninsula served as the prologue to the coming calamities of Nazi Germany and WWII.
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LibraryThing member antao
“[…] but I feel I must tell you that originally, we were Lusitanians, and then came the Romans and the Celts, and then came the Arabs, so what sort of race are we Portuguese in a position to celebrate? The Portuguese Race, replied the editor-in-chief, and I am sorry to say Pereira, that I
In “Pereira Declares” by Antonio Tabucchi.
I read this in a Portuguese translation from the Italian more than ten years ago, if memory serves me right, I haven't come across anything quite like it and I still have a place in my heart for portly, perspiring Pereira with his omelets and his quiet, but subversive, decency. This time, this wonderful translation by Patrick Creagh just made my day.
In a narrative that does not want a puzzle, Tabucchi uses a very similar resource to the one used by Isaac Bashevis Singer: that of telling alien stories supposedly collected from conversations with real people, and not hiding it in the book's writing. “Pereira Declares” is a book that walks slowly, seeking to situate the scenario through which the characters walk, without extending the descriptions but worried to leave the reader with significant details about the characters, as, for example, the custom of Pereira to take Lemonades and the same path every day. Alongside this, there is a concern for more philosophical discussions, or at least the ones that foster deeper reflections. One can use as an example both the theory of the confederation of souls and the hegemonic hegemony proposed by Dr. Cardoso as well as Pereira's trajectory. There is also Tabucchi 's sensitivity to perceive and bring to light two issues that I consider to be praiseworthy remarks by “Pereira Declares”: the portrait of the dialectic relationship between the subject and the world, and the capacity to demonstrate the darkest tentacles of the status quo – in this case, Salazar’s Portuguese dictatorship. The relation between subject and world is drawn in the contours of the historical situation of Portugal and the existential situation of Pereira. There is much of the world in Pereira, and much of the dilemmas of Pereira in the world. The tension embodied in the dictatorial political moment is experienced by the character through the psychological state with which he turns things around. The dispute between the hegemonic selves in the confederation of the souls of Pereira is the dilemma that many live under dictatorships: to stay quite in the name of personal security or to risk everything in the name of something greater? The postures in dispute within Pereira are metaphors of this state of tension, which Tabucchi was able to capture with mastery. The persona of Pereira and his psychological characters express very well this question: he incorporated a routine discipline of fearful respect, a fear hidden even in the choice of French tales that he would like to translate. And Tabucchi made this a veiled critical observation, because just when Pereira leaves aside his mediocre habits, he becomes the target of Salazar agents. The testimony of Pereira was made literature by Tabucchi, but he’s also able to extrapolate the conception of literature as an aesthetic object, reinvigorating the power of narratives as devices of reflection as much as objects and aesthetic exercises.
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don’t like the tone of your objection, we are Portuguese, we discovered the world, we achieved the greatest feats of navigation the world over, and when we did this, in the 16th century, we were already Portuguese, that is what we are and that is what you are to celebrate, Pereira.”In “Pereira Declares” by Antonio Tabucchi.
I read this in a Portuguese translation from the Italian more than ten years ago, if memory serves me right, I haven't come across anything quite like it and I still have a place in my heart for portly, perspiring Pereira with his omelets and his quiet, but subversive, decency. This time, this wonderful translation by Patrick Creagh just made my day.
In a narrative that does not want a puzzle, Tabucchi uses a very similar resource to the one used by Isaac Bashevis Singer: that of telling alien stories supposedly collected from conversations with real people, and not hiding it in the book's writing. “Pereira Declares” is a book that walks slowly, seeking to situate the scenario through which the characters walk, without extending the descriptions but worried to leave the reader with significant details about the characters, as, for example, the custom of Pereira to take Lemonades and the same path every day. Alongside this, there is a concern for more philosophical discussions, or at least the ones that foster deeper reflections. One can use as an example both the theory of the confederation of souls and the hegemonic hegemony proposed by Dr. Cardoso as well as Pereira's trajectory. There is also Tabucchi 's sensitivity to perceive and bring to light two issues that I consider to be praiseworthy remarks by “Pereira Declares”: the portrait of the dialectic relationship between the subject and the world, and the capacity to demonstrate the darkest tentacles of the status quo – in this case, Salazar’s Portuguese dictatorship. The relation between subject and world is drawn in the contours of the historical situation of Portugal and the existential situation of Pereira. There is much of the world in Pereira, and much of the dilemmas of Pereira in the world. The tension embodied in the dictatorial political moment is experienced by the character through the psychological state with which he turns things around. The dispute between the hegemonic selves in the confederation of the souls of Pereira is the dilemma that many live under dictatorships: to stay quite in the name of personal security or to risk everything in the name of something greater? The postures in dispute within Pereira are metaphors of this state of tension, which Tabucchi was able to capture with mastery. The persona of Pereira and his psychological characters express very well this question: he incorporated a routine discipline of fearful respect, a fear hidden even in the choice of French tales that he would like to translate. And Tabucchi made this a veiled critical observation, because just when Pereira leaves aside his mediocre habits, he becomes the target of Salazar agents. The testimony of Pereira was made literature by Tabucchi, but he’s also able to extrapolate the conception of literature as an aesthetic object, reinvigorating the power of narratives as devices of reflection as much as objects and aesthetic exercises.
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
A quirky Portuguese novel of 1994, set in the late 1930s era in Portugal.
The protagonist is an aging widowed journalist who writes the Culture page for a lesser known newspaper. He is apolitical, but fair-minded. In the era of growing authoritarianism he finds himself on the wrong side of
The writing style is "testimonial" - the story is reported in evidence-style, as in court reporting. I found it a little artifical initially, but as the book progresses, the reader sees how appropriate, and important, is this unusual treatment.
I'm glad I came across this book - courtesy of a mention in The Booksellers Diary.
The protagonist is an aging widowed journalist who writes the Culture page for a lesser known newspaper. He is apolitical, but fair-minded. In the era of growing authoritarianism he finds himself on the wrong side of
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developments.The writing style is "testimonial" - the story is reported in evidence-style, as in court reporting. I found it a little artifical initially, but as the book progresses, the reader sees how appropriate, and important, is this unusual treatment.
I'm glad I came across this book - courtesy of a mention in The Booksellers Diary.
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LibraryThing member lethalmauve
With the rise of extreme right-wing European populism during the 1930s, Portugal sees itself under the corporatist regime of Salazar, staying neutral affront as the Spanish civil war wages while aiding Franco’s National Army furtively behind doors. In mere hundred pages, and newspaper and
Not before long, and in need of an assistant, Pereira hires Monteiro Rossi, a young man of a radical disposition, who, instead of adhering to government regulations, persistently sends in articles reflecting his leftist political views. Pereira, agitated and worried, rejects these articles but nonetheless proceeds to keep them. Soon, he finds himself amidst the furore of outward resistance through Rossi and his comrades, where Pereira’s convictions slowly transform into his own definition of resistance. Previously fascinated by the thought of death, bereft and without purpose nor anchor other than his work, once he is pulled into a movement where he realises he can make a difference, where he is urged by his wife’s memories to be with people, to return to himself, mortality becomes a secondary thought, bereavement wields a strength. But this novel is not only about courage, no, it’s not even entirely about a search for purpose, I wouldn’t say so. It mirrors people’s tendency (perhaps, it’s my cynicism) to remain a bystander amidst their worsening surroundings if they knew uninvolvement will save them from harm, even at the cost of losing their individuality and humanity. It is note worthing too that the word “maintains” appears several times in the book for Pereira to convince himself, to never waver, to stay firm opposite the self-transformation laving its pages. Because Tabucchi’s Pereira Maintains is not a novel about a revolutionary act, though it ends with one defiant and suitcase in hand. It is about carrying our principles with us, and noticing that life may be only truly meaningful when we genuinely care for another person, and most of all, to “maintain” and never surrender our humanity despite the germinating cruelty and brutality infecting everyone and everything around us.
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magazine articles relayed between characters, Tabucchi’s Pereira Maintains encapsulates the uncertainties and dangers of the era as the threat of the Second World War also brews far up the horizons. Through the protagonist Pereira—a middle-aged journalist stricken by grief from his wife’s death—his avoidant attitude is ever-resonant: this unspoken choice and compliance to remain indifferent, turn a blind eye to oppression, censorship, as long as one is not directly affected by them. He firmly holds onto apolitical sentiments, preferring instead the comfort of literature and its translation as he heads the Culture segment of a small, independent magazine. In vain, he tries to separate literature from politics. But isn’t literature political? Not before long, and in need of an assistant, Pereira hires Monteiro Rossi, a young man of a radical disposition, who, instead of adhering to government regulations, persistently sends in articles reflecting his leftist political views. Pereira, agitated and worried, rejects these articles but nonetheless proceeds to keep them. Soon, he finds himself amidst the furore of outward resistance through Rossi and his comrades, where Pereira’s convictions slowly transform into his own definition of resistance. Previously fascinated by the thought of death, bereft and without purpose nor anchor other than his work, once he is pulled into a movement where he realises he can make a difference, where he is urged by his wife’s memories to be with people, to return to himself, mortality becomes a secondary thought, bereavement wields a strength. But this novel is not only about courage, no, it’s not even entirely about a search for purpose, I wouldn’t say so. It mirrors people’s tendency (perhaps, it’s my cynicism) to remain a bystander amidst their worsening surroundings if they knew uninvolvement will save them from harm, even at the cost of losing their individuality and humanity. It is note worthing too that the word “maintains” appears several times in the book for Pereira to convince himself, to never waver, to stay firm opposite the self-transformation laving its pages. Because Tabucchi’s Pereira Maintains is not a novel about a revolutionary act, though it ends with one defiant and suitcase in hand. It is about carrying our principles with us, and noticing that life may be only truly meaningful when we genuinely care for another person, and most of all, to “maintain” and never surrender our humanity despite the germinating cruelty and brutality infecting everyone and everything around us.
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LibraryThing member steve02476
Moving short novel, written as if it were notes from an interrogation - well oddly literary notes, anyway. Very concise carefully chosen language.. Written in Portuguese by an Italian writer and I think the translation must have been very good. Speaking of translators this reminds me of Lydia
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Davis's writing a little - sparse but full of meaning anyway. I read about this book in a book I'd read recently by Mohsin Hamid, he said it was one of his favorite books and I can see why. Show Less
LibraryThing member markm2315
A concise and tense short story-like novel about several days in the life of a minor newspaper editor's life in prewar Portugal. I am looking for the 1995 movie Sostiene Pereira ( According to Pereira) with Marcello Mastroianni.
LibraryThing member verenka
It's a story of an editor of the arts page of a Portuguese evening newspaper. It's set in 1938, at a time when Salazar was already in power in Portugal.
I liked the book and Tabucchi's idiosyncratic storytelling. I liked Pereira and his omelettes and lemonade and talks with his wife. I didn't like
I liked the book and Tabucchi's idiosyncratic storytelling. I liked Pereira and his omelettes and lemonade and talks with his wife. I didn't like
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the student and his girlfriend, I knew they were trouble. I thought their actions careless and selfish with regard to the people they put into danger. But it's easy to judge from hindsight. Show Less
LibraryThing member wandering_star
Pereira is a journalist living in Lisbon under the Salazar regime. Late on in his life, a series of events leads him to question his lack of political engagement. The title of the book refers to the fact that the story is told in the reported third person, with frequent use of the phrase 'Pereira
(I notice that in the US it was translated as 'Pereira Declares', which might have read better, although as a phrase it makes me think irresistibly of cricket).
Anyway, with that caveat, the story was interesting. Overall this is a book of subtle power - perhaps too subtle.
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maintains'. The overall effect of this is to suggest that this is Pereira subsequently seeking to explain or justify his actions, although sometimes I found it quite irritating - in particular because it seems to crop up at random intervals, including in contexts where you can't imagine anyone denying the statement (and so Pereira has no need to 'maintain' the point): eg "Marta took off her hat and laid it on the table. From beneath it cascaded a mass of rich brown hair with reddish lights in it, Pereira maintains."(I notice that in the US it was translated as 'Pereira Declares', which might have read better, although as a phrase it makes me think irresistibly of cricket).
Anyway, with that caveat, the story was interesting. Overall this is a book of subtle power - perhaps too subtle.
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Language
Original language
Italian
ISBN
0811213587 / 9780811213585
Physical description
136 p.; 5.3 inches
Pages
136