Fernando Pessoa reader of Schopenhauer and the problem of free-will

Abstract

This article aims to elucidate the relation between Fernando Pessoa, Schopenhauer and the problem of free-will, based on the reading that the Portuguese author made of the Schopenhauerian work. Indeed, throughout Pessoa’s writings one finds multiple testimonies of the reading that the Portuguese poet and thinker made of Schopenhauerian thought. An important indication for the study of Pessoa’s reappropriation of Schopenhauer’s thought is found in Fernando Pessoa’s Private Library, where one finds a French translation of Über die Freiheit des menschlichen Willens. The reading of this book would lead to the production of a multiplicity of philosophical writings that Fernando Pessoa attributes to two of his English fictitious literary personalities from the pre-heteronymic universe: Charles Robert Anon and Alexander Search. Thus, based on all these indications, we intend to show the impact of Schopenhauer’s reading on Pessoa’s literary universe.