The Book of Disquiet

Explore the narrative, formal, and thematic relationship between Parts 1 and 2. How would the novel change if the fragments from Part 2 were integrated into Part 1? Consider changes in structure, tone, and mood across the sections.

Analyze the relationship between Pessoa and Bernardo Soares. The introduction quotes Pessoa’s assertion that Soares is a “semi-heteronym” in that he is more closely tied to the author than Pessoa’s other heteronyms. What is the significance of the relationship between Pessoa and Soares? Incorporate outside research.

Analyze the overlaps and disparities between Sartre’s, Nietzsche’s, and Pessoa’s philosophies on love, meaning, and identity. How do Pessoa’s notions interrogate or build upon those of his predecessors and successors?

Which aspects of The Book of Disquiet defy novelistic traditions? How does this novel contribute to the modernist project of reinventing traditional artistic forms for a new era? How does it propose a way forward for the novel as a form?

The novel features repeated scenes of Soares wandering the Lisbon streets. Analyze the interplay between these scenes and Soares’s stream of consciousness. How and why would Soares’s narrative differ without these passages of observation and description?

Analyze the relationship between Soares’s pastimes of dreaming and writing. How do these occupations inform one another? What does Pessoa convey about the artist’s life via Soares’s imaginings?

Soares experiences suicidal ideation throughout the novel. What is the narrative and thematic function of these references to suicide? Given that he always immediately dismisses it, what emotional or intellectual function does the idea of suicide serve for Soares?

The novel is written from Soares’s first-person point of view. How does this choice inform the structure and themes of the novel? How does it expand and/or limit what Pessoa can do?