Heteronym (literature)
Encyclopedia
The literary
concept of heteronym
, invented by Portuguese
writer and poet Fernando Pessoa
, refers to one or more imaginary character(s) created by a writer to write in different styles. Heteronyms differ from noms de plume (or pseudonym
s, from the Greek "False Name") in that the latter are just false names, while the former are characters having their own supposed physiques, biographies and writing styles .
; the latter two consider the former their master. There are also two whom Pessoa called semi-heteronyms, Bernardo Soares and the Baron of Teive, who are semi-autobiographical characters who write in prose, «a mere mutilation» of the Pessoa personality. There is, lastly, an orthonym, Fernando Pessoa
, the namesake of the author, who also considers Caeiro his master.
The heteronyms dialogue with each other and even with Pessoa in what he calls «the theatre of being» or «drama in people». They sometimes intervened in Pessoa's social life: during Pessoa's only attested romance, a jealous Campos wrote letters to the girl, who enjoyed the game and wrote back.
Pessoa, also an amateur astrologue, elaborated horoscopes of his main heteronyms in order to determine their personalities. Ricardo Reis, for instance, was supposedly born in Lisbon, on September 19, 1887 at 4:05 pm.
Fernando Pessoa on the heteronyms
«How do I write in the name of these three? Caeiro, through sheer and unexpected inspiration, without knowing or even suspecting that I’m going to write in his name. Ricardo Reis, after an abstract meditation, which suddenly takes concrete shape in an ode. Campos, when I feel a sudden impulse to write and don’t know what. (My semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares, who in many ways resembles Álvaro de Campos, always appears when I'm sleepy or drowsy, so that my qualities of inhibition and rational thought are suspended; his prose is an endless reverie. He’s a semi-heteronym because his personality, although not my own, doesn’t differ from my own but is a mere mutilation of it. He’s me without my rationalism and emotions. His prose is the same as mine, except for certain formal restraint that reason imposes on my own writing, and his Portuguese is exactly the same – whereas Caeiro writes bad Portuguese, Campos writes it reasonably well but with mistakes such as "me myself" instead of "I myself", etc.., and Reis writes better than I, but with a purism I find excessive...)»
George Steiner on the heteronyms
«Pseudonymous writing is not rare in literature or philosophy (Kierkegaard provides a celebrated instance). 'Heteronyms', as Pessoa called and defined them, are something different and exceedingly strange. For each of his 'voices', Pessoa conceived a highly distinctive poetic idiom and technique, a complex biography, a context of literary influence and polemics and, most arrestingly of all, subtle interrelations and reciprocities of awareness. Octavio Paz defines Caeiro as 'everything that Pessoa is not and more'.
He is a man magnificently at home in nature, a virtuoso of pre-Christian innocence, almost a Portuguese teacher of Zen. Reis is a stoic Horatian, a pagan believer in fate, a player with classical myths less original than Caeiro, but more representative of modern symbolism. De Campos emerges as a Whitmanesque futurist, a dreamer in drunkenness, the Dionysian singer of what is oceanic and windswept in Lisbon. None of this triad resembles the metaphysical solitude, the sense of being an occultist medium which characterise Pessoa's 'own' intimate verse.»
Richard Zenith on the heteronyms
«Álvaro de Campos, the poet-persona who grew old with Pessoa and held a privileged place in his inventor’s hearts. Soares, the assistant bookkeeper and Campos, the naval engineer never met in the pen-and-paper drama of Pessoa’s heteronyms, who were frequently pitted against one other, but the two writer-characters were spiritual brothers, even if their wordly occupations were at odds. Campos wrote prose, as well as poetry, and much of it reads at it came, so to speak, from the hand of Soares. Pessoa was often unsure who was writing when he wrote, and it’s curious that the very first item among the more than 25,000 pieces that make up his archives in the National Library of Lisbon bears the heading A. de C. (?) or B. de D. (or something else).»
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
concept of heteronym
Heteronym (linguistics)
In linguistics, heteronyms are words that are written identically but have different pronunciations and meanings. In other words, they are homographs that are not homophones. Thus, row and row are heteronyms, but mean and mean are not...
, invented by Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
writer and poet Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
, refers to one or more imaginary character(s) created by a writer to write in different styles. Heteronyms differ from noms de plume (or pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s, from the Greek "False Name") in that the latter are just false names, while the former are characters having their own supposed physiques, biographies and writing styles .
Pessoa's Heteronyms
In Pessoa's case, there are at least 70 heteronyms (according to the latest count by Pessoa's editor Teresa Rita Lopes); some of them know each other, and criticise and translate each other's works. Pessoa's three chief heteronyms are Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de CamposÁlvaro de Campos
Álvaro de Campos was one of the poet Fernando Pessoa's various heteronyms, widely known by his powerful and wraithful writing style. Campos' works may be split in three phases: the decadentist phase, the futuristic phase and the decadent phase...
; the latter two consider the former their master. There are also two whom Pessoa called semi-heteronyms, Bernardo Soares and the Baron of Teive, who are semi-autobiographical characters who write in prose, «a mere mutilation» of the Pessoa personality. There is, lastly, an orthonym, Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
, the namesake of the author, who also considers Caeiro his master.
The heteronyms dialogue with each other and even with Pessoa in what he calls «the theatre of being» or «drama in people». They sometimes intervened in Pessoa's social life: during Pessoa's only attested romance, a jealous Campos wrote letters to the girl, who enjoyed the game and wrote back.
Pessoa, also an amateur astrologue, elaborated horoscopes of his main heteronyms in order to determine their personalities. Ricardo Reis, for instance, was supposedly born in Lisbon, on September 19, 1887 at 4:05 pm.
Fernando Pessoa on the heteronyms
«How do I write in the name of these three? Caeiro, through sheer and unexpected inspiration, without knowing or even suspecting that I’m going to write in his name. Ricardo Reis, after an abstract meditation, which suddenly takes concrete shape in an ode. Campos, when I feel a sudden impulse to write and don’t know what. (My semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares, who in many ways resembles Álvaro de Campos, always appears when I'm sleepy or drowsy, so that my qualities of inhibition and rational thought are suspended; his prose is an endless reverie. He’s a semi-heteronym because his personality, although not my own, doesn’t differ from my own but is a mere mutilation of it. He’s me without my rationalism and emotions. His prose is the same as mine, except for certain formal restraint that reason imposes on my own writing, and his Portuguese is exactly the same – whereas Caeiro writes bad Portuguese, Campos writes it reasonably well but with mistakes such as "me myself" instead of "I myself", etc.., and Reis writes better than I, but with a purism I find excessive...)»
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- Fernando Pessoa, Letter to Adolfo Casais Monteiro, 13.01.1935, in The Book of Disquiet, Penguin Classics, 2002, p. 474.
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George Steiner on the heteronyms
«Pseudonymous writing is not rare in literature or philosophy (Kierkegaard provides a celebrated instance). 'Heteronyms', as Pessoa called and defined them, are something different and exceedingly strange. For each of his 'voices', Pessoa conceived a highly distinctive poetic idiom and technique, a complex biography, a context of literary influence and polemics and, most arrestingly of all, subtle interrelations and reciprocities of awareness. Octavio Paz defines Caeiro as 'everything that Pessoa is not and more'.
He is a man magnificently at home in nature, a virtuoso of pre-Christian innocence, almost a Portuguese teacher of Zen. Reis is a stoic Horatian, a pagan believer in fate, a player with classical myths less original than Caeiro, but more representative of modern symbolism. De Campos emerges as a Whitmanesque futurist, a dreamer in drunkenness, the Dionysian singer of what is oceanic and windswept in Lisbon. None of this triad resembles the metaphysical solitude, the sense of being an occultist medium which characterise Pessoa's 'own' intimate verse.»
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- George Steiner, «A man of many parts», in The Observer, Sunday, 3 June 2001.
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Richard Zenith on the heteronyms
«Álvaro de Campos, the poet-persona who grew old with Pessoa and held a privileged place in his inventor’s hearts. Soares, the assistant bookkeeper and Campos, the naval engineer never met in the pen-and-paper drama of Pessoa’s heteronyms, who were frequently pitted against one other, but the two writer-characters were spiritual brothers, even if their wordly occupations were at odds. Campos wrote prose, as well as poetry, and much of it reads at it came, so to speak, from the hand of Soares. Pessoa was often unsure who was writing when he wrote, and it’s curious that the very first item among the more than 25,000 pieces that make up his archives in the National Library of Lisbon bears the heading A. de C. (?) or B. de D. (or something else).»
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- Richard Zenith, introduction to The Book of Disquiet, Penguin Classics, 2002, p. XI.
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List of Pessoa's Heteronyms
| No. | Name | Type | *Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa | himself | Commercial correspondent in Lisbon |
| 2 | Fernando Pessoa | orthonym | Poet and prose writer |
| 3 | Fernando Pessoa | autonym | Poet and prose writer |
| 4 | Fernando Pessoa | heteronym | Poet, a pupil of Alberto Caeiro |
| 5 | Alberto Caeiro | heteronym | Poet, author of 'O guardador de Rebanhos','O Pastor Amoroso' and 'Poemas inconjuntos', master of Fernando Pessoa heteronyms, Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, António Mora and Coelho Pacheco |
| 6 | Ricardo Reis | heteronym | Poet and prose writer, author of 'Odes' and texts on the work of Alberto Caeiro. Biographical note: (Oporto, 1887–1936). He graduated in medicine and is an unconditional admirer of the Greek civilisation above all others, and considers himself to be an expatriate from Greece. Being a royalist he chooses to emigrate to Brazil in 1919 (Portuguese monarchy had been overthrown in 1910). In his neoclassical odes he ponders on the briefness of life, the inevitability of death and the helplessness of the human condition. This “sad epicure” tries to find some contentment through the acceptance of fate and self-discipline lives by Horatio’s a motto: carpe diem (seize the day). |
| 7 | Frederico Reis | heteronym/para-heteronym | Essayist, brother of Ricardo Reis, upon whom he writes |
| 8 | Álvaro de Campos | heteronym | Poet and prose writer, a pupil of Alberto Caeiro. Biographical note: Álvaro de Campos. (Tavira, Algarve, 1890 - ?). He studies naval engineering in Scotland. He feels a foreigner wherever he is. Suffocated by a tedious and monotonous existence, failing to see the meaning of life, he looks for new sensations and travels to the Far East. When he comes back he is a renewed man. He embraces the futuristic movement and worships industrialisation and scientific and technological progress, with its hectic relentless rhythm and continuous change. There is an ecstasy of the senses, his relationship with machines and charcoal and steel is almost erotic. But in the background of this modern world lurk the shadows of the assembly line, the pollution, the emptiness of material things. The darkness of what is to come —eventually Campos tires. In his third phase, profoundly disenchanted with the present, he evokes the long-gone days of his perfectly happy childhood. |
| 9 | António Mora | heteronym | Philosopher and sociologist, theorist of Neopaganism, a pupil of Alberto Caeiro |
| 10 | Claude Pasteur | heteronym/semi-heteronym | French, translator of "CADERNOS DE RECONSTRUÇÃO PAGÃ" conducted by Antonio Mora |
| 11 | Bernardo Soares | heteronym/semi-heteronym | Poet and prose writer, author of the 'Book of Disquiet' |
| 12 | Vicente Guedes | heteronym/semi-heteronym | Translator, poet, and director of Ibis Press, author of a paper |
| 13 | Gervásio Guedes | heteronym/para-heteronym | Author of the text 'A Coroação de Jorge Quinto' |
| 14 | Alexander Search | heteronym | Poet and short story writer |
| 15 | Charles James Search | heteronym/para-heteronym | Translator and essayist, brother of Alexander Search |
| 16 | Jean-Méluret of Seoul | heteronym/proto-heteronym | French Poet and Essayist |
| 17 | Rafael Baldaya | heteronym | Astrologer and author of 'Tratado da Negação' and 'Princípios de Metaphysica Esotérica' |
| 18 | Barão de Teivo | heteronym | Prose writer, author of "Educação do Stoica" and "Daphnis e Chloe" |
| 19 | Charles Robert Anon | heteronym/semi-heteronym | Poet, philosopher and story writer |
| 20 | A. A. Crosse | pseudonym/proto-heteronym | Author and Puzzle-solver |
| 21 | Thomas Crosse | heteronym/proto-heteronym | English epic character/occultist, popularised in Portuguese culture |
| 22 | I. I. Crosse | heteronym/para-heteronym | ---- |
| 23 | David Merrick | heteronym/semi-heteronym | Poet, storyteller and Playwright |
| 24 | Lucas Merrick | heteronym/para-heteronym | Short story writer, perhaps brother David Merrick |
| 25 | Pêro Botelho | heteronym/pseudonym | Short story writer and author of Letters |
| 26 | Abílio Quaresma | heteronym/character/meta-heteronym | A character inspired by Botelho Pêro and author of short detective stories |
| 27 | Inspector Guedes | character/meta-heteronym? | A character inspired by Botelho Pêro and author of short detective stories |
| 28 | Uncle Pork | pseudonym/character | A character inspired by Botelho Pêro and author of short detective stories |
| 29 | Frederick Wyatt | alias/heteronym | Poet and prose writer (in the English language) |
| 30 | Rev. Walter Wyatt | character | Possibly brother of Frederick Wyatt |
| 31 | Alfred Wyatt | character | Another brother of Frederick Wyatt/a resident of Paris |
| 32 | Maria José | heteronym/proto-heteronym | Wrote and signed «A Carta da Corcunda para o Serralheiro» |
| 33 | Chevalier de Pas | pseudonym/proto-heteronym | Author of poems and letters |
| 34 | Efbeedee Pasha | heteronym/proto-heteronym | Author of humoristic "Stories" |
| 35 | Faustino Antunes/A. Moreira | heteronym/pseudonym | Psychologist, author of "Ensaio sobre a Intuição» |
| 36 | Carlos Otto | heteronym/proto-heteronym | Poet and author of "Tratado de Lucta Livre" |
| 37 | Michael Otto | pseudonym/para-heteronym | Probably brother of Carlos Otto who was entrusted with the translation into English of "Tratado de Lucta Livre" |
| 38 | Sebastian Knight | proto-heteronym/alias | |
| 39 | Horace James Faber | heteronym/semi-heteronym | short story writer and essayist (in English) |
| 40 | Navas | heteronym/para-heteronym | Translated Horace James Faber in Portuguese |
| 41 | Pantaleão | heteronym/proto-heteronym | Poet and prose |
| 42 | Torquato Fonseca Mendes da Cunha Rey | heteronym/meta-heteronym | Deceased author of a text, Pantaleão decided to publish |
| 43 | Joaquim Moura Costa | proto-heteronym/semi-heteronym | satirical poet, Republican activist, member of "O PHOSPHORO" |
| 44 | Sher Henay | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Compiler and author of the preface of a sensationalist anthology in English |
| 45 | Anthony Gomes | semi-heteronym/character | Philosopher, author of "Historia Cómica do Affonso Çapateiro" |
| 46 | Professor Trochee | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Author of an essay with humorous advice for young poets |
| 47 | Willyam Links Esk | character | Signed a letter written in English on 13/4/1905 |
| 48 | António de Seabra | pseudonym/proto-heteronym | Literary critic |
| 49 | João Craveiro | pseudonym/proto-heteronym | Journalist, follower of Sidónio Pereira |
| 50 | Tagus | pseudonym | Collaborator in "NATAL MERCURY" (Durban, South Africa) |
| 51 | Pipa Gomes | draft heteronym | Collaborator in "O PHOSPHORO" |
| 52 | Ibis | character/a pseudonym | A character from Pessoa's childhood, accompanying him until the end of his life/also signed poems |
| 53 | Dr. Gaudencio Turnips | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Director of "O PALRADOR", English-Portuguese journalist and humorist |
| 54 | Pip | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Poet, humorous anecdotes. Predecessor of Dr. Pancrazio |
| 55 | Dr. Pancrazio | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Storyteller, poet and creator of charades |
| 56 | Luís António Congo | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Collaborator in "O PALRADOR", columnist and presenter of Lanca Eduardo |
| 57 | Eduardo Lance | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Luso-Brazilian poet |
| 58 | A. Francisco de Paula Angard | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Collaborator in "O PALRADOR", author of «textos scientificos» |
| 59 | Pedro da Silva Salles/Zé Pad | proto-heteronym/alias | Author and director of the section of anecdotes at "O PALRADOR" |
| 60 | José Rodrigues do Valle/Scicio | proto-heteronym/alias | "O PALRADOR", author of charades and 'literary manager' |
| 61 | Dr. Caloiro | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", reporter and author of «A pesca das pérolas» |
| 62 | Adolph Moscow | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", novelist, author of «Os Rapazes de Barrowby» |
| 63 | Marvell Kisch | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Author of a novel announced in "O PALRADOR", called «A Riqueza de um Doido» |
| 64 | Gabriel Keene | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Author of a novel announced in "O PALRADOR", called «Em Dias de Perigo» |
| 65 | Sableton-Kay | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | Author of a novel announced in "O PALRADOR", called «A Lucta Aérea» |
| 66 | Morris & Theodor | pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 67 | Diabo Azul | pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 68 | Parry | pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 69 | Gallião Pequeno | pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 70 | Urban Accursio | alias | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 71 | Cecília | pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 72 | José rasteiro | proto-heteronym/pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of proverbs and riddles |
| 73 | Nympha Negra | pseudonym | "O PALRADOR", author of charades |
| 74 | Diniz da Silva | pseudonym/proto-heteronym | Author of the poem "Loucura" and collaborator in "EUROPE" |
| 75 | Herr Prosit | pseudonym | Translator of 'O Estudante de Salamanca' by Espronceda |
| 76 | Henry More | proto-heteronym | Author and prose writer |
| 77 | Wardour | character? | Poet |
| 78 | J. M. Hyslop | character? | Poet |
| 79 | Vadooisf ? | Character? | Poet |
Other writers and their heteronyms
- Søren KierkegaardSøren KierkegaardSøren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
- Had more than a dozen heteronyms with distinct biographies and personalities. - David SolwayDavid SolwayDavid Solway is a Canadian poet, educational theorist, travel writer and literary critic of Jewish descent.He is a member of the Jubilate Circle and formerly a teacher of English Literature at John Abbott College...
, Canadian writer, writing as Andreas KaravisAndreas KaravisAndreas Karavis is a non-existent Greek poet created by Canadian poet David Solway.On October 1999, Books in Canada published an article entitled "Modern Homer" about a supposedly newly-discovered Greek poet Andreas Karavis, with an interview, a photograph, and an essay by David Solway...
. - Kent Johnson, American scholar and poet writing as Araki YasusadaAraki YasusadaAraki Yasusada was a non-existent Japanese poet, generally thought to be the creation of US literature professor Kent Johnson...
. - Robin SkeltonRobin SkeltonRobin Skelton was a British-born academic, writer, poet, and anthologist.Born in Easington, Yorkshire, Skelton was educated at the University of Leeds and Cambridge University. From 1944 to 1947, he served with the Royal Air Force in India. He later taught at Manchester University...
, Canadian poet and occultist, writing as French surrealist Georges Zuk. - B.H. Fairchild, American poet, writing as Roy Eldridge Garcia.
- Romain GaryRomain GaryRomain Gary was a French diplomat, novelist, film director, World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice .- Early life :Gary was born in Vilnius under the name Roman Kacew...
, French writer, writing as Émile Ajar, Fosco Sinibaldi, Shatan Bogat. - Antoine VolodineAntoine VolodineAntoine Volodine is the pseudonym of a French writer. He initially was interested in the original Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires. His works often involve cataclysms and have scenes of interrogations. One of his best known works is Des anges mineurs Antoine Volodine (born...
, French writer, writing as Elli Kronauer, Manuela Draeger, Lutz Bassman. - Brian O'Nolan writing as Myles na gCopaleen