I Have More Souls Than One by Fernando Pessoa
Book Review | 4 souls that blur fiction and reality with intellectual honesty. Fragmentation of self, serves as both theme and method, exploring philosophical contradiction rather than resolving them.
Dear Reader,
How have you been? Recently, I read this sweet book by Fernando Pessoa. It explores the concept of fragmented self through four different alter egos, as Portugal's greatest poet expresses rich and strange thoughts and feelings.
It's a short book, and at first I wondered how one could build complex characters so quickly, but Pessoa did it exceptionally well. While reading about each personality, I felt as if I knew the person and was having a conversation with them about their lives. I could clearly distinguish between these personalities and the consciousness they presented.
The four souls he introduces are:
Alberto Caeiro - A naive poet of nature who rejects metaphysics and favors direct sensory experiences.
Ricardo Reis - A stoic who displays quiet resignation.
Alvaro de Campos - (Love this soul) An engineer who lives with existential sadness.
Bernardo Soares - An assistant bookkeeper full of melancholy.
What fascinated me most is the fragmentation of self; being able to perceive oneself as one entity across multiple dimensions and souls. In this book, the concept of self-fragmentation wasn't just a theme but Pessoa's method, allowing him to explore philosophy through contradictions rather than resolving or revealing them. He also presents themes of the limits of self-knowledge and alienation.
Generally, from what I've researched, when writers develop fictional characters, they think from another person's perspective. But this fragmentation of one's self blurs the line between fiction and reality. It was fascinating to see how Pessoa could strip away his own self and bring out multiple selves from within; with exceptional intellectual and emotional honesty.
This isn't a book for everyone though. It can be challenging and disorienting to constantly readjust our understanding and perception of the characters. Yet this deliberate disorientation mirrors our own complex relationship with "I" or our identity. The beauty is that Pessoa didn't need many words to convey these messages. Sometimes he could reveal a character's essence within a single poem. While this concept of self-fragmentation might seem hard to many, if you think about it this way, it resonates with our world of curated social media personas and the fluid nature of identity.
If you appreciate literature that speaks directly to possibilities and contradictions, this book is brilliant. Whether you're new to Pessoa or returning to his work, this short, sweet book is worthwhile for anyone interested in poetry, philosophy, or the question of what it means to be human in all our multiplicity.
A Note to You
I'd love to hear which of his four souls are most like you. Perhaps you see fragments of yourself reflected in multiple personas? Let me know in the comments or reply to the email. I'd love to continue this conversation with you. Until our next literary adventure.