Virtual Subjects, Fugitive Selves: Fernando Pessoa and his Philosophy by Jonardon Ganeri

Abstract

Reviewed by: Virtual Subjects, Fugitive Selves: Fernando Pessoa and his Philosophy by Jonardon Ganeri Paulo de Medeiros Virtual Subjects, Fugitive Selves: Fernando Pessoa and his Philosophy. By Jonardon Ganeri. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2021. xii+165 pp. £55. ISBN 978-0-29-886468-4. Jonardon Ganeri's book opens with a bold claim: 'Fernando Pessoa's invention of the heteronym represents a singular moment in the history of subjectivity' (p. 1). A compelling and grandiose promise, designed to whet the reader's appetite, does not disappoint: from beginning to end, the multitude of brief chapters—nineteen alongside a Preamble and Postscript—link Pessoa to an array of philosophical concepts and thinkers. The book is replete with insights and original suggestions for even the most seasoned of Pessoa scholars, while the clear and accessible style will retain appeal for the more general reader. Erudite without ever retreating into unnecessary obscurity, Ganeri marshals point upon point and shows a detailed, specialized knowledge not only of various strands of philosophy, but also of the intricacies of Pessoa studies. Exemplary referencing showcases an ability to combine originality with intellectual generosity. The end result is a landmark study, refreshingly free of the usual pieties, conscious of the most recent developments, and with the potential to galvanize the field of Pessoa studies. The book's title is as distinctive as it is memorable. Ganeri takes the notion of 'virtual subject' beyond the usual sense, be it in reference to Pessoa's heteronyms, or [End Page 306] the author's intense exploration of 'virtual' realities, dream images, and mindscapes. Indeed, for Ganeri '[v]irtual subjects are metaphysically dependent on landscapes of presence; they are not metaphysically "distinct" from "awareness-space"' (p. 92). Contrasting Pessoa's 'heteronymic philosophy of self' with both Cartesian and Humean figurations of the self, Ganeri credits the Portuguese author with having developed a unique phenomenological approach to the principle of selfhood. Construing Pessoa as a philosopher—and not just as one of the great modernist writers—is hardly a new claim. Even if Ganeri does not refer to them, Alain Badiou, Judith Balso, and José Gil have long established that Pessoa's thought singles him out even among other celebrated modernists. But it is Ganeri's notion of a 'fugitive self' that is arguably more intriguing and holds more potential. Ganeri cites a poem by Pessoa dated 5 April 1934 that starts with the line 'Sou um evadido' ('I'm a fugitive' in Richard Zenith's apt translation). This is clearly not the same poem as the rightly celebrated 'Autopsicografia' ('O poeta é um fingidor' ('The poet is a faker')), so the author's use of that title to refer to the poem he cites is somewhat confusing. Leaving such details aside, the key insight is Ganeri's notion that a 'fugitive self', a self that can never be at peace with itself, can be employed to transcend a philosophical reading of Pessoa to develop a Pessoan reading of cosmopolitan philosophy. The Postscript leaves no room for doubt as regards the esteem in which the author holds Pessoa. For Ganeri, Pessoa's 'first-personal "meditations" went much further than those of Descartes' and '[h]is phenomenology [was] much more poetic than that of the prosaic Husserl' (p. 150). But the prose never lapses into simplistic hagiography. Ganeri is open to criticisms and also notes, for example, that, though 'Pessoa believed himself to be exploring the outer reaches of experiential possibility [...] he did not consider the possibility of nested and circular heteronymy, nor that of uncentred minds, nor the implications of total sensory deprivation. Nor did he fully explore the idea that we might all be heteronyms of some single cosmic self' (p. 150). A partial explanation might be sought in Pessoa's suspicions concerning any form of transcendence and metaphysics unless grounded in sensual empiricism. In any case, it serves as a useful reminder that Pessoa had a prodigious and progressive mind—not only in relation to contemporaries in Portugal, but also as regards general tendencies in twentieth-century thought (with its finest illustration arguably in his Book of Disquiet)—but that he hardly exhausted the human possibilities for expanding our mental...