Explains Pereira

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Explained Pereira (Italian original title Sostiene Pereira ) is a politically committed historical novel by the Italian literary scholar and writer Antonio Tabucchi , which was first published in 1994 by Feltrinelli in Milan. The German translation by Karin Fleischanderl was published by Carl Hanser Verlag a year later .

content

The novel is set in Portugal in the summer of 1938. António de Oliveira Salazar has come to power and has the country firmly under control. The repression and censorship of the Estado Novo determine life in Lisbon . The elderly widower Dr. Pereira heads the one-man cultural department of the newly founded Catholic evening newspaper Lisboa , in which he publishes obituaries for recently deceased authors as well as translations of French short stories (including by Alphonse Daudet ). Outside of the editorial office, too, he often worries about death, because his health is in bad shape. Through an excerpt from his dissertation, he met the young philosophy graduate Francesco Monteiro Rossi, who - which Pereira does not know for the time being - is active in the resistance with his girlfriend Marta. Pereira develops fatherly feelings for Rossi and lets him write a necrologist , which, however, turn out to be unpublishable because of the passionate political statements. The secret police followed the philosopher's trail and arrested him in Pereira's apartment. During an interrogation, Pereira is mocked and beaten, Rossi is beaten to death in the next room. Pereira then writes an obituary for Monteiro Rossi in which he reports in detail about what happened and names the murderers. He places it, past the censorship, in his newspaper. To avoid the consequences of this action, he takes a forged passport from Monteiro Rossi's belongings and leaves the country.

Narrative technique

The novel is built into a framework narrative , the insert that makes up the title runs through the 200 pages of the book. Again and again, attention is drawn to the narrative situation: Dr. Pereira went to the author of the book and told him his story. In this way, Tabucchi achieves the effect of a testimony, as it is called in the subtitle of the work, with which he fakes the authenticity of his story. Typical of Tabucchi are the many references to famous writers and works, which also create a realistic atmosphere and a three-dimensional image. The focus is on the question of moral action and the power of literature.

reception

The novel won two of the most important Italian literary prizes in its year of publication: the Premio Viareggio and the Premio Campiello .

In 1995, the book by Roberto Faenza was filmed with Marcello Mastroianni in the title role and was released in German-speaking countries under the title Explained Pereira (Italian original title: Sostiene Pereira ).

expenditure

Web links