Author: Rinhaug, Aino

Source: Portuguese Studies, Volume 24, Number 1, 15 March 2008 , pp. 41-55(15)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

Abstract:

The present article examines the notion of the absurd as it transpires in the form of Modernist literature; more specifically, in the works of Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) and Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). On the basis of how these authors responded to a sense of existential disquiet, experienced as the absurd, an examination of the latter as a particular terrain proposes that the bewildered self sought a refuge in literature from a sensation of nothingness. The idea of literature as a territory of signification is, moreover, analogous to that of an inner, psychological terrain where the creation of an identity originates and where the question of a male-female difference might possibly be obliterated.

Portuguese
O presente artigo pretende investigar a noção do absurdo, como é visível na forma de literatura modernista, mais especificamente, nas obras de Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) e Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). Baseada na maneira como os autores responderam a uma sensação de desassossego, visto como o absurdo, a investigação deste como se fosse um terreno propõe que o eu desorientado procura um refúgio na literatura, escapando assim à sensação do nada. A ideia da literatura como um espaço de significação é, além disso, análoga à de um terreno psicológico, interior, de onde a criação da identidade se origina e onde a questão da diferença entre o masculino e o feminino, talvez, se anule.

Keywords: Fernando Pessoa; Samuel Beckett; the absurd; Modernism; Fernando Pessoa; Samuel Beckett; o absurdo; Modernismo

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Oslo

Publication date: 2008-03-15

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• The only English-language journal devoted to the literature, culture, and history of Portugal, Brazil, and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa. Launched in 1985, it received the 'Best New Journal Award' of the Conference of Editors of Learned Journals in 1987. It publishes articles, translations, previously unpublished historical and literary texts, bibliographical information, and a survey of research and reviews.

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