- Paperback: 112 pages
- Publisher: New Directions; Reprint edition (Nov 26 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0811215172
- ISBN-13: 978-0811215176
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 13.5 x 0.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 118 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,091,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
On a sweltering Sunday in July, an Italian writer awaits a midnight rendezvous on a Lisbon quay with the spirit of a dead poet. The nameless narrator of this surreal dreamscape, who anxiously anticipates the appearance of his deceased friend and literary forebear, is Tabucchi himself, and the poet, though never named, is probably Portuguese modernist Fernando Pessoa, whose works Tabucchi, a champion of Portuguese literature, has translated. Chance encounters, ambivalent symbols, black humor and nonrational events pervade the narrative as Tabucchi's alter-ego meets his father as a young sailor; the ghost of Isabel, a former lover who committed suicide; Tadeus, who may have been the father of the child Isabel was carrying; and other colorful figures, alive and dead. Finally, Tabucchi meets his revered poet friend to discuss Kafka, postmodernism and the future of literature. Winner of the 1991 Italian PEN Prize, this playful bagatelle, translated from the original Portuguese, is partly an homage to Portuguese culture, partly a mellow autobiographical fantasy.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
In this wonderful, enchanting tribute to the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, the narrator travels to Lisbon for a midnight meeting at the Tagus quay with the distinguished (and deceased) poet, whom he idolizes. During the course of the day, he meets a young drug addict who asks for money, a taxi driver who does not know his way, a gypsy, a cemetery worker, and others, real and imaginary, who add to the dreamlike atmosphere of his quest. Along the way, the narrator drinks a newly created cocktail at the Museum of Ancient Art and has a few interesting meals, the recipes to which are included in an appendix. Aptly subtitled, this book brilliantly creates a story that, like a delicious cocktail, most readers will finish in one gulp and will return to savor. Ten other novels by Italian author Tabucchi have been translated into English (e.g., The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro). Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
I thought: the guy isn't going to turn up. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I thought: the guy isn't going to turn up. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Vaque and unimaginative, in a shallow way,
By Mikael Kuoppala (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Requiem (Hardcover)
"Requiem" is Antonio Tabucchi's praise for Lisbon. It describes the journey of one man through the Portugalise city, where he meets some people, dead and alive, in the otherwise deserted city.The peculiarity of the character is the fact that he has lost his superego, with the consequences of his id, the subconscious fludding his contious mind, hence makim him live in a sort of dreamworld. And from that world come the dead of his past. The book is slightly semi-artistic, and it's message is left to be speculated about. And even if the basic premise of the story is intriquing, it fails to measure up to the potential it contains. A short, nice read, wich doesn't offer anything to think about.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life is a dream,
By Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Requiem (Hardcover)
The lightness of Tabucchi's Requiem makes it a very easy book to like. It helps to be at least a little bit familiar with the Portugese poet and author Fernando Pessoa who is the figure Tabucchi is to meet. The novella is very short (107 pages but lots of chapters so lots of white space and big print) and really more on the amusing than philosophical side. The little conversations read like little asides but soon one realizes that is what the book is, a little aside. There are some amusing references made about modern literature that could very well apply to the book we are reading and also a very interesting reference to a story written that later came true(a kind of mini meditation on how fact and fiction mimic each other or follow the same laws, the same could be said for life and dreams) but the book purposely stays on the surface of things. Food is the real center of the book. That is the most substantial and sustaining ritual at the heart of life, at least that apsect of life that is most real it seems to Tabucchi. So the books pages pass, each meeting a chance for conversations and most of the conversations are just small talk. Kind of like life. It is clear the events are all dreamed and so Tabucchi is free to talk to both friends and relations living and dead. But they say the same kinds of things to each other in the dream world that they did in real life. And the dream world is little different than the real world. That is the charm of the book. Life is a dream, so eat.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life is a dream,
By Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Requiem (Hardcover)
The lightness of Tabucchi's Requiem makes it a very easy book to like. It helps to be at least a little bit familiar with the Portugese poet and author Fernando Pessoa who is the figure Tabucchi is to meet. The novella is very short (107 pages but lots of chapters so lots of white space and big print) and really more on the amusing than philosophical side. The little conversations read like little asides but soon one realizes that is what the book is, a little aside. There are some amusing references made about modern literature that could very well apply to the book we are reading and also a very interesting reference to a story written that later came true(a kind of mini meditation on how fact and fiction mimic each other or follow the same laws, the same could be said for life and dreams) but the book purposely stays on the surface of things. Food is the real center of the book. That is the most substantial and sustaining ritual at the heart of life, at least that apsect of life that is most real it seems to Tabucchi. So the books pages pass, each meeting a chance for conversations and most of the conversations are just small talk. Kind of like life. It is clear the events are all dreamed and so Tabucchi is free to talk to both friends and relations living and dead. But they say the same kinds of things to each other in the dream world that they did in real life. And the dream world is little different than the real world. That is the charm of the book. Life is a dream, so eat.
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