Little marks in books of unreason: Fernando Pessoa, a reader in the National Library of Lisbon (nowadays Portugal

Abstract

 We know there are authors that Pessoa read and that influenced his work; however, not all the books he read were in his private library. Some of them he read in the National Library of Lisbon (now of Portugal), others in the library of Henrique Rosa, his stepfather’s brother; and others yet in the Library of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. Based on the critical edition of Writings on Genius and Madness (2006), this article seeks to refer to readings related to unreason and to give continuity to a methodology mentioned here, thus launching a series of challenges for future research: the connection of the Pessoan archive with the private library (or with other public or private ones), of the writer with the reader, of theorization with learning. It is through these connections that the critique and knowledge of some texts can be deepened, as well as the context in which they were written.