I Have More Souls Than One

Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) was born in Lisbon and brought up in Durban South Africa. He returned to Lisbon in 1905. A prolific writer ascribing his work to a variety of personas or heteronyms Pessoa published little in his lifetime and supported himself by working as a commercial translator. Although acknowledged as an intellectual and a poet his literary genius went largely unrecognised until after his death. <p><i>'But no she's abstract is a bird</i><br><i>Of sound in the air of air soaring</i><br><i>And her soul sings unencumbered</i><br><i>Because the song's what makes her sing.'</i><br><br>Dramatic lyrical and ranging over four distinct personae these poems by one of Portugal's greatest poets trace a mind shaken by intense suffering and a tireless search for meaning.<br><br>Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.</p> <p><i>'But no she's abstract is a bird</i><br><i>Of sound in the air of air soaring</i><br><i>And her soul sings unencumbered</i><br><i>Because the song's what makes her sing.'</i><br><br>Dramatic lyrical and ranging over four distinct personae these poems by one of Portugal's greatest poets trace a mind shaken by intense suffering and a tireless search for meaning.<br><br>Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.</p>