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plural author from the 19th-20th centuries? it's more likely than you think!
ok, i haven't read any of his books yet and any more details will be coming after that, but today my mom told me about one of her favorite authors almost certainly being plural and i am losing my mind
his name is fernando pessoa, and he invented the term heteronym, if anyone here is familiar with it. the blurb on the book of disquiet--the one i'm getting started reading--begins, "Fernando Pessoa was many authors in one. He attributed his prolific writings to a wide range of alternate selves, each of which had a distinct biography, ideology, and horoscope." his first heteronym originated when he was six years old, and he had them all his life, including communicating with himself through them. the heteronyms were also intentionally created, but they weren't always intentionally accessed.
authors having plural experiences in their writing is nothing new, but what's most interesting to me about pessoa's is how they are all explicitly authors (rather than characters talking back), and explicitly recognized by scholarship without anyone seeming to notice how textbook multiple this all is--probably because the intentionality throws them off, and i imagine the venn diagram of portuguese literary scholars and MPD fanatics are two barely touching circles. (and honestly the point where they touch is probably exclusively my portuguese-speaking art scholar mom telling her plural nerd child& about this author.)
his name is fernando pessoa, and he invented the term heteronym, if anyone here is familiar with it. the blurb on the book of disquiet--the one i'm getting started reading--begins, "Fernando Pessoa was many authors in one. He attributed his prolific writings to a wide range of alternate selves, each of which had a distinct biography, ideology, and horoscope." his first heteronym originated when he was six years old, and he had them all his life, including communicating with himself through them. the heteronyms were also intentionally created, but they weren't always intentionally accessed.
authors having plural experiences in their writing is nothing new, but what's most interesting to me about pessoa's is how they are all explicitly authors (rather than characters talking back), and explicitly recognized by scholarship without anyone seeming to notice how textbook multiple this all is--probably because the intentionality throws them off, and i imagine the venn diagram of portuguese literary scholars and MPD fanatics are two barely touching circles. (and honestly the point where they touch is probably exclusively my portuguese-speaking art scholar mom telling her plural nerd child& about this author.)
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Pessoa also may well squeak by people’s notice because iirc very little of his and his heteronyms’ work have been translated into English, and he died before the codification of the diagnosis in the USA.
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most of his heteronyms were at least occasional poets, including the first 'great/seminal' one, but yes, they also wrote prose! i think the book of disquiet is mostly prose?
that completely checks out--the only work of his that our mom owns in english is the book of disquiet. (sidenote: we're not even done with the introduction and it's already so incredibly plural--and furthermore, in line with our experience/perspective of plurality--that i'm kind of shocked. if we get through it without forgetting to we'll probably submit it to pluralstories!) -crow&
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The gay poem is called Antinous and was apparently written in English! It’s online here: https://permalinkbnd.bnportugal.gov.pt/viewer/79673/?offset=#page=11&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q=
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sidenote that might interest you&--he advocated (in an ironic manner, but still,) a method for unhappily married women to cheat on their husbands in a way very similar to practices outlined in some things you've shared on spirit & headmate sex!
"Picture your husband with a whiter body. If you’re good at this, you’ll feel his whiteness on top of you. Refrain from excessively sensual gestures. Kiss the husband on top of your body and replace him in your imagination – remember the man who lies on top of you in your soul. Substitution is less difficult than you think. By substitution I mean the practice of imagining an orgasm with man A while copulating with man B."
he was in correspondence with aleister crowley during his life, as well as just generally interested in mysticism, so frankly i wouldn't be surprised if this was lifted from occult sexual practices of the time. -crow&
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Please submit this stuff to pluralstories if you finish, because there is so much lit out there and so little time!
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Edit I feel like I have to make: sorry for commenting on a semi-old post. oops. thought some of your other ones were interesting and forgot about time lol
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also that's cool! we might try to find & watch it tbh because i'm becoming increasingly nerdy about this strange man the more i read. -crow&
I am responding to this comment from two months ago lol
(This is why we have the "later I will eat these words" tag on old posts, haha. Though we rarely remember to use it.)