Blind Narcissus, illuminated by Lisbon (From Ces�rio Verde to Fernando Pessoa)

Abstract

Eduardo Lourenço referred to Fernando Pessoa as a “Blind Narcissus”, quoting a passage of the The Book of Disquiet (Libro del desasosiego). In its first stage, The Bookof Disquiet has no defined geographical space nor an established historical time; in its second stage, it achieves concrete space and temporal coordinates. The purpose of this text isto evince the importance of those coordinates — those of Lisbon at the beginning of thetwentieth century — and reiterate how important the work of Cesário Verde was for Pessoa and his return to the Book towards 1929, after a creative interruption of almost ten years.