Divergent opinions

The Book of Disquiet remains a puzzle for researchers, editors, and readers. Since Pessoa did not leave the book ready for publishing, the assorted texts have been assembled by the editors, who organize the fragments according to their criteria. It is natural, therefore, that the various versions live in discord and complementarity.

Soon after the publication of the Ática edition in 1982, Georg Rudolf Lind, a German critic, translator and scholar of Portuguese literature, and Jacinto do Prado Coelho, the editor, were involved in a debate about the criterion of Coelho’s organization. Likewise, the editions of Teresa Sobral Cunha (1991) and those of Richard Zenith (1991, in English and 1998, in Portuguese) raised discussions about the adopted inclusion and fragment order criteria. More recently, in 2015, Teresa Rita Lopes, a relevant pessoan researcher, proposed a controversial version of the Book of Disquiet, which integrates the texts attributed to Barão de Teive (Editora Global, São Paulo).