The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro

Here, in Margaret Jull Costa and Patricio Ferrari's splendid new translations, are the complete poems of Alberto Caeiro, the imaginary "heteronym" coterie created by Fernando Pessoa, the Portuguese modernist master. Pessoa conceived Caeiro around 1914 and may have named him loosely after his friend, the poet Mário de Sa-Cárrneiro. What followed was a collection of some of Fernando Pessoa's greatest poems, grouped under the titles The Keeper of Sheep, The Shepherd in Love, and Uncollected Poems. This imaginary author was a shepherd who spent most of his life in the countryside, had almost no education, and was ignorant of most literature; yet he (Pessoa) wrote some of the most beautiful and profound poems in Portuguese literature. This edition of The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro is based on the magnificent Portuguese Tinta-da-China edition, published in Lisbon in 2016, and contains an illuminating introduction by the Portuguese editors Jerónimo Pizarro and Patricio Ferrari, some facsimiles of the original Portuguese texts, and prose excerpts about Caeiro and his work written by Fernando Pessoa well as his other heteronyms Álvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis, and other fictitious authors such as Antonio Mora and I. I. Crosse.

“"Pessoa's amazing personality is as beguilingand mysterious as his unique poetic output."”

"As searing as Rilke or Mandelstam." -- New York Times
"Pessoa invented numerous alter egos. Arguably, the four greatest poets in the Portuguese language were all Pessoa using different names." -- NPR
"Here we finally see these poems as they ought to be seen... When I read Pessoa (in his own voice and in the voices of his heteronyms), what I am left with, rather than answers, or even questions, is a feeling, the embarrassment of a genuine sensation, one I might sheepishly call love." -- Poetry Foundation
"Pessoa’s amazing personality is as beguiling and mysterious as his unique poetic output." -- William Boyd

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), the Portuguese poet, literary critic, and essayist, is one of the most significant literary figures of the twentieth century. He wrote not only under his own name but under over a hundred others (including Alexander Search, Alberto Caeiro, Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, and Bernardo Soares). Margaret Jull Costa, who has translated Javier Marías and José Saramago, lives in England.A poet, translator, and editor, Patricio Ferrari has translated the works of Fernando Pessoa and Alejandra Pizarnik, among others. Jerónimo Pizarro is a professor at the Universidad de los Andes and editor-in-chief of Pessoa Plural—A Journal of Fernando Pessoa Studies.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.