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Pereira Declares: A Testimony

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Pereira Declares is set in Lisbon as Portugal is sliding into an oppressive state. Pereira is the editor of a cultural page where his work reflects not what he would wish to write but rather what is acceptable to write. He life revolves around his dead wife, food and his dream of writing a book. After seeing a piece by Monteiro Rossi, a recent university graduate in philsophy, he hires Rossi to write a column for the cultural page. Rossi is as politically aware and active as Pereira is blinded and inactive. The story is of the growing relationship between the two men and the choices Pereira is forced to make as he starts participating in life.

While the plot is predictable in the sense that people are predictable, the writing and wit of the novel not only is entertaining but also forces the reader to consider their own stance regarding death, religion and politics.

This novel is well worth your time.

Afirma Pereira is a wonderful short tale about one man's abrupt inclusion into the world of political opposition within a society that had sullenly accepted the gradual emergence of a paternalist authoritarian State.

Pereira, the main character, is an ageing intellectual who has never fully recovered from the premature death of his wife. He believes that he is a Catholic, although his mind is full of doubts that his religious faith cannot resolve. He edits the cultural section of a small newspaper that 'tends towards Catholicism', and which believes in the ressurection of the soul. He is preoccupied with death and reincarnation - a concern that brings him into contact with the cause of his own reincarnation in the form of the young half-Italian, Monteiro Rossi.

Set in Lisbon at the height of the Spanish Civil War, Tubucchi uses his undoubted lyrical skills to paint a picture of a Lisbon that is, at first sight, at peace with itself. Under the surface, however, it is clear that all is not right - and this is what Tabucchi brings out so clearly.

Pereira's curiosity in Rossi - the son he never had, and the youth he never lived - gets the better of him, and he gets drawn in to the younger man's life. Pereira had always been aware that the political regime in Portugal was intolerant of opposition, but, like the majority of Portuguese, he preferred not to think about it - a walking example of Portuguese 'fado'. His gradual awakening becomes apparent as the news arrives that some workers had been killed by the police in the Alentejan town of Evora. Normally Pereira would have allowed this to simply wash over him - now it becomes a cause for concern. Suddenly he is more aware - he notices the graffiti on the Jewish butcher's shop, and realises that it offends him. He begins to resent his housekeeper, whom he suspects of being a police informer. He begins to question why it is that he is restrained from pubishing some material in his newspaper. The censorship that prevented him from writing about Foucault was not imposed by the State, but rather it was a form of self-censorship. He begins to rail against this, feeling that he has nothing to lose.

This leads him to an encounter with his employer in what is one of the most humorous and, simultaneously, sad parts of the book.

As for Rossi - well, he comes in and out of the narrative at frequent intervals - usually at the point that Pereira is beginning to have doubts about his own doubts. In this way, Pereira is encouraged to continue his small acts of rebellion until, at the end, they reach their dramatic conclusion.

Despite some small and relatively insignificant historical errors, this is a wonderful little allegorical tale about the condition of the Portuguese people under the Salazarist regime at the peak of its fascistic phase. It plays on the Portuguese characteristics of 'saudadismo' (yearning) - illustrated by Pereira's imaginary conversations with his dead wife - and its 'fatalidade' (or 'situationism') - the sullen acceptance of what is, reinforced by the Catholic values of the political regime.

This work achieves the feat of interweaving these ultimately pessimistic traits with the optimistic and active energy of youth - given material form in the shape of the young protagonist.

The inevitable descent of the prematurely old journalist from the ethereal heights of romantic literature to the brutality of the late 30's fascism and a political statement.

However, I believe Tabucchi's greatest achievements are the beautiful structure of the novel, the interweaved use of humor and tragedy, and the portrait of a beautiful and stagnant Lisbon. My urge after reading the last sentence was to read Pereira's declaration again and again. Delightful masterpiece. A must.

I read this book convinced it was a true story. This is because the book edition I bought read, in addition to the title "Pereira Declares", also the sub-title "A testimony". Hence I thought it was a life testimony, a true account. In fact, that's why I bought it and read it, as I read mostly non-fiction. Nothing in the story gave it away as fiction - which I would later discover that it was.

I grew up in Lisbon and recognized many places mentioned in the book. But what made the book read true to me was the characters. How believable each character is to me. Each of these people was someone I could have met in Lisbon. I am still astonished that they are fictional characters. Because their mental processes, their lives, their reactions, everything about them is completely familiar, completely Portuguese. Antonio Tabucci, an Italian living in Portugal for many years, has empathically understood the soul of many in Portugal. When I later came to realize that the story was fictional, it was Tabucci's complete understanding of the Portuguese soul that amazed me the most.

And so, the story was made up. It didn't actually happen. Well, actually it did. It happened many many times. That is, many true stories that happened under the Salazar regime were variants of this story. The facts may have differed (names, places, ages, all of the details), but this story occurred: the non-political person, certainly not an opponent of the regime (perhaps viewing Salazar as a strict father figure, not as a dictator), minding their business - the family, making ends meet, etc - suddenly, without any notice (never having even considered such a thing in their life) and in the absence of any ideological foundation for that whatsoever, makes a split-second decision that puts him/her at enormous personal risk because they were faced directly with great injustice done to oterhs. One moment their life is entirely safe and predictable, as it always had been, the next moment, on a moment's decision, they better hide or go into exile.

This story has happened often, among the resignated Portuguese of yesterday, as much as among people the world over. That's why true stories are to me the ultimate thrill.

Tabucchi is a high-minded writer - here he deals with the onslaught of Fascism and an ordinary citizen's gradual involvement on the side of moral right. The author's delicate simple prose exudes a charm that personifies his main character, a character with a naivete which may be covering the deep sadness of widowhood.

But there is also a predictability about the progress of this novel. I, and I think most readers, foresee Pereira's journey towards a moral stance. That is sometimes a part of a book's pleasure, its sense of inevitability. Here, I think, it is for most people a comfortable affirmation. One sees an average guy come to understand the evil of Fascism and then involve himself against it. In fact, very few in Europe did that, however much they wish to think otherwise. The norm was inaction. Pereira is given an extraordinary degree of naivete, an innocence about what is going on around him, even though he is an older man, even though he has had a past career as a crime reporter. But that naivete, too, is comfortable, because it says to the reader such insulation at such times is understandable - it's nice to think so.

So that, however fine a stylist and however righteous his theme, this book seems to me a comforting apologia, a half truth.

Tabucchi adoptó Portugal como patria de sus sueños, anhelos y alucinaciones. Quien desee saber acerca de la vida de ese país, habrá de leer no sólo esta obra maestra del italiano, sino otras ficciones anteriores dirigidas al alma a través de reflexiones acerca de la muerte. Pereira es un viejo periodista al que un diario de medio pelo le ofrece hacerse cargo del suplemento cultural. Pereira, a su vez, le encarga a un joven nervioso la sección necrológica. La hsitoria ocurre durante la dictadura de Salazar. Pronto, Pereira, hombre solitario cuyo interlocutor es un retrato de su mujer difunta, se va involucrando en los avatares del joven colaborador y de la novia de éste: ambos mantienen en secreto operaciones clandestinas que se oponen a las condiciones sociales y políticas del país. Es el momento crucial de la vida del viejo Pereira: la vida le proporciona la oportunidad de encauzar sus dudas y deseos. La novela está narrada a la manera de una declaración judicial. Es por esta razón que la narración enuncia a cada tanto "Sostiene Pereira", que es el título del libro. Inspirado por sus propios viajes y por los que realizó su amado Fernado Pessoa, Tabucchi consigue hacer sentir al lector el calor agobiante de Lisboa, los encantos de los cafés y la materialidad gozosa de la comida regional. Hay que probar las omelettes elaboradas con la receta que da Tabicchi en este fascinante libro que honra a la tercera edad cifrada en su entrañable personaje.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943) is the most European and international of modern Italian writers, comparable only to Umberto Eco, with whom he has an ongoing literary discussion on the intellectual's role in society. Eco is convinced that the artist/intellectual should only organize knowledge, while Tabucchi stands up for the right of the artist, in presence of preoccupying political evolutions, to ring the warning bell when necessary. This ringing of the bell is only one of the many keys to use when reading Tabucchi's 1994 novel "Pereira declares".
This lyrical short book, probably inspired by the life of a true Portuguese journalist, narrates in an unusual testimonial third person style (maybe a police officer?), an apparently insignificant (?) episode that happened in Lisbon in the summer of 1938. Pereira, the editor of the cultural page of an afternoon newspaper, meets and befriends a young anti-regime political activist Monteiro Rossi that is willing to do anything (also write beforehand necrologies of famous authors) for a little bit of money. Monteiro Rossi, naturally gets into trouble dragging with him the at first reluctant and then convinced Pereira. The book's plot, that is the true driving force because of its fast and at the same time deep pace, is only the excuse to face the real topic. This is Pereira, his personality, his times, freedom of press, the author's love of Lisbon (where he lives for half of the year, being a professor of Portuguese literature in an Italian University), Portuguese history during the last years under the Salazar regimen, Europe's plight when dealing with fascism then and now.
All these themes are precisely the reason that determined the selection of this book of Antonio Tabucchi, among his many other beautiful works, as the intellectual flag of political opposition in 1994, against the press tycoon Silvio Berlusconi's entry in the political arena.
However, even if this made the book famous twelve years ago, and history has gone overrunning its the apparent actuality, as all works of art this novel is still enchanting to read and its subtler merits constantly emerge.
First of all we must consider modern Italian literature, greatly unknown or not translated for the English speaking public, that has most of the characteristics of postmodernism. Italy is a country culturally and sociologically removed (that considers itself as backwards) from the rest of Europe and the U.S. Italian literature reflects this belief and Italian authors think that all has been already written, so they privilege citations, irony, satire, mingling of literary types, "pastiches" and they reach their best satisfaction when "found out" or "discovered" by their cult readers that appreciate their citation abilities. "Pereira declares" is full of these citations, beginning with the authors Monteiro Rossi writes obituaries for (in Italian these are called "crocodiles", like crocodile tears) like for example Garcia Lorca, who at the time of the novel hadn't yet been killed, but would be soon, up to the French novelists of the Nineteenth Century Pereira loves and translates picking out their present meaning. The short story of Daudet's "Contes du lundì" on the Franco-Prussian War is the emblem of political frontiers and intestinal war in Europe and retains its actuality for Pereira at the moment he is speaking (1938), for the Author (1944), and for us reading now in 2006. All the Authors Tabucchi cites, Balzac, Bernanos (now long forgotten for many), Maupassant have some eternally true intuitions, but we must know them well to fully appreciate what Tabucchi wants to convey. The same must be said for Pessoa (1888-1935), the great Portuguese poet, studied by Tabucchi, which introduced the great season of poetical "avanguard" and sang of the all Portuguese sentiment of "Saudade" a yearning or nostalgia made up of suffering and sweatness, a longing for the past and the future together, a category of the spirit "that is at the same time a form of suicide" (Tabucchi). Pereira longs for and constantly relives his love for his wife and his youth in Coimbra and finds them again in Monteiro Rossi and Marta, his girlfriend.
Tabucchi, like in other novels of his, utilizes a journalist, police like approach and with this literary technique he remembers Leonardo Sciascia and Frederich Durrenmatt, that have explored this literary stile before him with great results.
If you can find it watch the 1995 movie "Sostiene Pereira" directed by Roberto Faenza with Marcello Mastroianni as Pereira and Daniel Auteuil as Doctor Cardoso, that faithfully follows the book and helps to visualize Tabucchi's poetry.
Read this book to have an idea of the best of modern Italian literature and to taste some of the greater European problems of yesterday and today.

Pereira is a reluctant hero of our time: an inadequate, faintly absurd man who tries to live a decent personal life in a political setting that allows little room for such illusions. Fascist Portugal in 1938, like some other "civilized" nations closer to our own day, is poisoned by false certainties and the corrupt exercise of vindictive power. Only proclamations of pious conformity are allowed. Pereira, himself a pious and harmless man, finds himself gradually forced, through circumstances beyond his control, to assume the role of a full human being, and to stand up, however briefly, for what is right. Pereira's moral resurrection is handled with great delicacy by Tabucchi. The English translation is another plus: Patrick Creagh is one of the finest translators working today, and here does full justice to Tabucchi's restrained and thoughtful prose. The cumulative effect is remarkable. If they read English over in Stockholm, this book could put its author in contention for the Nobel Prize.

Antonio Tabucch's short (136 pgs.) and magnificant 1994 novel Declares Pereira is a devistating study of the coming of totalitarianism. Set in Portugal in 1938, Tabucchi's tale, originally written in Italian, is the story of an overweight, fading, and ill newspaper reporter now editing the culture page of a mediocre Lisbon newspaper who befriends, and then helps, a young writer with unacceptable political views. Pereira steadfastly tries to avoid any political involvement whatsoever, but the nature of the coming Nazi state makes neutrality impossible. Pereira must choose, and this choice involves either betrayal of his young comrade or his own political suicide. I will not disclose how or why Pereira exercises his option. Read this book and find out!

This tale, told as though it were a documented testimony resulting from some unidentified investigative process, is a complete and believable characterisation of a very dull but gentle man, Dr. Pereira. While an editor of a no-hum local newspaper in 1938 Lisbon, he struggles to maintain his invisible and intentionally unexpressive life by ignoring the political repression and censorship mounting around him. He takes pride in the fact that his paper is apolitical.

Through the subtlest of facts and inferences, all easily grasped, this book enables readers to feel that they're discovering Pereira all by themselves, with almost no assistance from the unseen narrator or author. It's as though Tabucchi has the map but you're the driver. This style is delicate and unobtusive yet it delivers a sense of realness and a rich atmosphere unexpected in a story of just 136 pages. You feel the breeze rolling in off the Atlantic and along those streets. To the same degree, something so trivial as the presence of sugar in lemonade informs us exactly of the level of frustration Pereira experiences vis-a-vis his own new and atypical responses to people and events. He can't comprehend a rationale for his behaviour but he's painfully aware of the danger he's posing to the safe life he's made for himself.

This is Tabucchi's most famous book. I was introduced to it by a friend in northern Italy who's read every book he's written, including his later 2001 book, "Si Sta Facendo Sempre piu Tardi" ("It's Getting Later all the Time"). This hasn't yet been released in North America but Amazon lists it as orderable.