The writings of Fernando Pessoa, one of Portugal’s most renowned authors, stand alongside other significant works of modernist world literature and offer a view into the specific milieu of early-twentieth-century Lisbon. Writing under several identities known as heteronyms, Pessoa created works in many genres, including fragments that were assembled into his best-known text, The Book of Disquiet, only after his death.
The essays in this volume explore questions Pessoa raised about the nature of the self, the stability of the text, and the conflict between tradition and innovation. Part 1, “Materials,” describes editions, translations, and other resources. The essays in part 2, “Approaches,” address Pessoa’s works and delve into the author’s historical and cultural contexts, heteronyms and multiplicity, archives and editing processes, and connections with other authors and fields of study.
About the Editors
Paulo de Medeiros is Professor of Modern and Contemporary World Literature at the University of Warwick (UK), where he teaches in the English and Comparative Literary Studies program. He previously served as Associate Professor at Bryant University (USA) and as Professor at Utrecht University (Netherlands) before joining Warwick.
In 2011–2012, he was a Keeley Fellow at Wadham College, University of Oxford, and in 2013 and 2014, he served as President of the American Portuguese Studies Association. His current projects include a study on Challenges for World Literature. His research interests encompass Critical Theory, World Literatures, Modernism and Postcolonial Studies, as well as Lusophone Literatures and Film.
Jerónimo Pizarro is a teacher, translator, critic, and publisher who has overseen most of the major new editions and series of Fernando Pessoa’s work published in Portugal since 2006. An Associate Professor at the University of the Andes and Professor of Portuguese Studies at the Camões Institute in Colombia, he is also the recipient of the Eduardo Lourenço Prize (2013).
Pizarro curated Portugal’s participation in the Bogotá International Book Fair and has coordinated visits by Portuguese-language writers to Colombia. His publications include Alias Pessoa (2013); as editor, Portuguese Modernisms: Multiple Perspectives in Literature and the Visual Arts (2011) and Libro del Desasosiego (2014); and as translator, El retorno (2015).
His more recent books include Ilusión y materialidad: perspectivas sobre el archivo (2018), Ler Pessoa (Lisbon: Tinta-da-china, 2018), Como Fernando Pessoa puede cambiar su vida (2019) and Fernando Pessoa: A Critical Introduction (2020).
Book Details
Title: Approaches to Teaching the Works of Fernando Pessoa
Editors: Paulo de Medeiros & Jerónimo Pizarro
Publisher: Modern Language Association of America
Series: Approaches to Teaching World Literature (Essays)
Publication Date: June 20, 2025
Language: English
Paperback: 246 pp
Available @ Amazon.com
