The Hour and the Fog

When back in 1912 Fernando Pessoa announced in his articles A Nova Poesia Portuguesa Sociologicamente Considerada and Reincidindo the brief appearance of the Supra-Camões he was imagining his triumphant appearance as the redeeming poet of a nation that had long hoped to see its glory days resurface. Twenty-two years before the publication of Mensagem its author was already dreaming of a work that could surpass Os Lusíadas in Portugal's mythical-poetic imagination. However this grandiose desire to be able to change reality would come up against severe foggy conditions which would only allow him to transform hope into a dream conceiving a new form of heroism characterized by confronting the absurdity of reality.