Fernando Pessoa & the Rise of Heteronyms

Ever daydreamed about being someone else? Someone smarter, more successful, maybe a bit better looking? Ever labored under an assumed name? Most of us probably have, in some sense... We have internet nicknames, chatroom handles, avatars... These days we all have both real lives and virtual lives, internet presences that are increasingly diffuse webs of tweets and facebook status updates... 100 years ago, no one could imagine so many of our interactions would be mediated and determined by technology. We are living in an era when anyone can pretend to by anything, without any accountability or consequences. In years past, you had to have a lot more talent and skill to pull that off with any believability...

Have you heard of Fernando Pessoa? This prolific and gifted Portuguese poet invented heteronyms - parallel personas with unique styles and characteristics. He wrote under dozens of aliases, each with a distinctive style. They aren't 'pseudonyms' because they aren't fake - he fully inhabited each of these characters, drew up astrological charts and biographies for each one, and made a name for himself as a masterful writer who could fully explore the deepest recesses of a range of personality types. Today, in an era of blogs and opinion journalism, writers rarely cultivate the kind of range Pessoa thrived on. He's a giant in the Portuguese literary world, and yet I hadn't heard of him before last week. Found myself sitting next to a statue of him just outside the hotel, and reading his work is illuminating. Below are the first lines of his poem "Tobacco Kiosk" - click the title to see the rest. If you don't like it, find one of the poems he wrote using his other 80 names. Based on the volume of his output, it seems like it would take a lifetime of work to really grasp Pessoa's genius...

TOBACCO KIOSK
by Fernando Pessoa

I am nothing
I shall always be nothing
I cannot wish to be anything.
Aside from that, I have within me all the dreams of the world....

Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet, 1888-1935

I firmly believe everyone ought to have aliases & heteronyms...so... here's some work I've produced under different names...

A 75 minute DJ mix entitled "Filtered Surrenders & Bootlegged Om" that I released in 2008 as DhakFu

A 9:11 Dylan cover I put out in 2004 as theForger