O marinheiro: “Sailing is necessary, living is not necessary”

Authors

  • Francisco Maciel Silveira Universidade de São Paulo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2175-3180.v12i23p156-165

Keywords:

Fernando Pessoa, Heteronymy, Static drama, Symbolism

Abstract

O marinheiro (1913) anticipates motifs that Fernando Pessoa would go on to develop in both his orthonymous and heteronymous oeuvre – the unfolding of the self; the impossibility of feeling without thinking of feeling; the mystery of being the medium of oneself, and being only what is possible. The play constitutes the first major step towards the maximum depersonalization which is his work’s objective: the realization of heteronymy. This paper will therefore examine the dissociation between appearance and essence, which occurs in two spaces – the space of the stage and the space of the poetic word – concluding that O marinheiro is the true manifesto of Orpheu, inasmuch as it materializes the orphic enchantment of the poetic word, imposing it as the only absolute reality – an intelligible space which creates the perceptible plane, that deceptive shadow of true reality. The Pessoa’s seaman is a Platonic demiurge who dreams the shadows of our reality. Ultimately, as watchers of reality, we are no more than mere shadows and reminiscences – simulacra of the true reality from which we have exiled ourselves.

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Author Biography

  • Francisco Maciel Silveira, Universidade de São Paulo

    Professor Titular Aposentado do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura Portuguesa da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo.

References

LOURENÇO, Eduardo. “Orpheu ou a Poesia como Realidade”. Tetracórnio, fev. 1955.

PESSOA, Fernando. Obra Poética, Rio de Janeiro: Companhia José Aguilar Editora, 1969.

PESSOA, Fernando. “O Marinheiro”. In Orpheu. Lisboa: Ática, 1971.

PESSOA, Fernando. Obras em Prosa. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguilar, 1976.

Published

2020-12-29

How to Cite

Silveira, F. M. (2020). O marinheiro: “Sailing is necessary, living is not necessary”. Revista Desassossego, 12(23), 156-165. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2175-3180.v12i23p156-165