In sorte Diaboli: Satan and satanism(s) in the work of Fernando Pessoa

• Grant number: 12/02936-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2012
• End date: November 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Other Vernacular Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Francisco Maciel Silveira
• Grantee: Luciano de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Throughout the years, Fernando Pessoa's work has been under different gazes by the specialized criticism. However, few were the occasions in which scholars occupied themselves with the figure of Satan and the different shades that color the episodic diabolism in the writing of the Lisbon-born poet. Albeit erratic, the Tempter's route in Pessoa's texts points at the unsuspected yet indisputable mark of the Devil in the author's thought, mainly in his early writings and in essays on hermeticism. Consequently, Pessoa can be seen as the immediate heir of the "satanic generation" of Portuguese writers that, under the influence of the mephistophelic vapors then hovering over Europe's literary environment, redefined Portugal's literature at the end of the eighteen hundreds. Thus, starting with an examination of the origins and sundry configurations of what is known as literary Satanism, as well as the signs and symptoms of its manifestation in Portuguese literature by the end of the nineteenth century, this research aims at investigating the Devil's presence and the expression of the satanic in the work of Fernando Pessoa. Using an analytical-comparative approach that traces Old Nick's wanderings in Pessoa's orto and heteronymic texts, the research intends to understand the ways in which the satanic possesses, in verse and prose, Fernando Pessoa's writings, thereby revealing to what extent it is possible to recognize in him the face of an author inspired by the Genius of Darkness.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SOUZA, Luciano de. Satan and satanism(s) in the work of Fernando Pessoa. 2018. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.