Fernando Pessoa timeline

FERNANDO PESSOA

1888-1935

  Retrato de Fernando Pessoa por Almada Negreiros, óleo sobre tela, 1954 (pormenor)

1888

Born on the 13th of June in the 4th floor of a building in the Largo de S. Carlos, Lisbon.

1893

His father dies of tuberculosis at the age of 43. 

1895

His mother remarries, to the Portuguese consul in Durban, British colony of Natal, where the following year Pessoa will go and live. 

1901

Finishes secondary studies in Durban, enrolling the following year at the Commercial School.

1903

Begins to write as Alexander Search, continuing to do so until 1910.

1905

Returns to Lisbon by himself and enrolls in the Curso Superior de Letras,at the University, abandoning it in 1907.

1908

Starts to work as foreign correspondent for commercial establishments. In September, he begins to write verse in Portuguese.

1911

Refuses an offer from the English editor Warren Kellogg to move to England.

1912

Publishes in the magazine A Águia three articles on  «A nova poesia portuguesa», where he announces the «o próximo aparecimento do super-Camões» (the coming of a super-Camões). His correspondence with Sá-Carneiro begins.

1913

Publishes, in A Águia, Na Floresta do Alheamento, a text which he indicates belongs to Livro do Desassossego. Meets Almada Negreiros.

1914

Publishes, in the magazine A Renascença,the poem that will name the literary movement Paulismo.
Breaks with  A Águia, which had refused to publish O Marinheiro.

1915

Orpheu 1 and 2, are published, co-directed by Pessoa and Sá-Carneiro.
Publishes six articles in O Jornal, the seventh is censored by the editor.
Two books on theosophy which he translated are published.

1916

Publishes the paulic poem Hora Absurda, also «Ela canta, pobre ceifeira» and the fourteen sonnets  Passos da Cruz.
Four books on theosophy which he translated are launched.

1917

Collaborated in Portugal Futurista, with Episódios, poems,and the Ultimatum by Álvaro de Campos.

1918

Publishes two booklets in English, 35 Sonnets and Antinous.

1919

Collaborates in Acção (Action), official organ of the Núcleo de Acção Nacional. 

1920

Moves to live with his mother and three half-siblings in Campo de Ourique. Exchanges love letters with Ofélia Queirós for nine months.

1921

Creates the publishing firm Olisipo, where he publishes English Poems I-II (Antinous rewritten plus Inscriptions) and English Poems III (Epithalamium).

1922

In the magazine Contemporânea  he publishes O Banqueiro Anarquista and the twelve poems of Mar Português, that in 1934 will be part of Mensagem.

1923

Prints and circulates two manifestos, one by Álvaro de Campos, Aviso por Causa da Moral, the other signed by him, Sobre um Manifesto de Estudantes, to defend his two friends António Botto and Raul Leal.

1924

Athena. Revista de Arte, is launched, with Pessoa as literary director; its first issue reveals a heteronym, Ricardo Reis.

1925

Pessoa reveals in Athena a new heteronym, Alberto Caeiro.
His mother dies on the 17th of March. 

1926

Collaborates in the six issues of the Revista de Comércio e Contabilidade (Magazine of Trade and Accounting). Answers a survey on the Portuguese Empire where he states that dominion over the colonies is not necessary.

1927

The magazine Presença is launched in Coimbra; its issues will publish many texts by Pessoa and the modernists. 

1928

Publishes the booklet O Interregno. Defesa e Justificação da Ditadura Militar em Portugal, published by the Núcleo de Acção Nacional.
Publishes the article «O provincianismo português».

1929

Bernardo Soares appears, signing two fragments of O Livro do Desassossego (The Book of Disquiet) in the  magazine Solução Editora; Soares’ work will be published every year until 1932.
Exchanges love letters with Ofélia Queirós for four months. 

1930

Pierre Hourcade publishes in the parisian magazine Contacts an article about the work of Fernando Pessoa.

1932

Applies for the position of librarian in Cascais, but is not selected. Pierre Hourcade publishes four of his poems in the literary magazine Cahiers du Sud of Marseilles. 

1933

Publishes in Presença, among other works, the poem Tabacaria, by Campos.

1934

Publishes on the 1st of December his only book of poems in Portuguese, Mensagem, which wins an official prize. 

1935

Dies on the 30th of November at the Hospital de S. Luís dos Franceses.