A Critical Introduction proposes a new didactic and dynamic way of reading the great twentieth-century poet Fernando Pessoa (18881935). The aim is to present a holistic vision of this complex poet, promoting his literary geniality in order to better understand his orthonymic-heteronymic poetry. A guiding motif is Pessoas own Be as plural as the universe. In leading the reader through the poets published literary work Jeronimo Pizarro allows an intimate perspective, alongside an academic one, to better understand the workings of Pessoas mind and life.

Discussion centres on the dilemmas an editor faces when editing posthumously. A prime question revolves around the genesis of Pessoas heteronyms and orthonyms. Understanding is revealed by a critical perspective on the unity that exists in all of Pessoas literary work. Interpretations of the poems; explanation of the profundity of The Book of Disquiet; and his isms of Paulism, Caeirism, Intersectionism and Cessationism, are discussed and analysed. The issue of Pessoas astrological predictions his birth year and the effects of this event on Portuguese national history is debated. A chapter is devoted to the effect that translating Omar Khayyams Rubaiyat had on the poet. The work contains eleven texts written by Pessoa in English (including an autobiographical note from 1935), a substantive dual language bibliography, and is highly illustrated with facsimiles of the poets own written material. A Critical Introduction is essential reading for all scholars and students of Pessoas literary output and life circumstances. The work has been written to appeal to cultural studies (arts and aesthetics) enthusiasts in general at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, but given the engagement of new critical material it also provides a structured resource for future research.