Pereira Declares: A Testimony

The setting of this book (Pereira Declares: A Testimony) by Antonio Tabucchi is Lisbon, Portugal, during the summer of 1938. Portugal is under the rule of a dictator and experiences the threatening claws of Fascism which has already been crawling from neighboring Spain. Pereira, an aging journalist, detaches himself from ‘what is happening in the present world’ by translating French novels or short stories for the culture section of Lisboa, a weekly second-rate newspaper, and by talking to the framed picture of his dead wife sharing his thoughts, daily accomplishments and plans. When he hires a young assistant to write for the newspaper advance obituaries for some famous writers, Pereira’s isolated world will be shaken. The novel patiently tells the reluctant awakening of Pereira in a delightful prose.

This novel is a gripping character study that shouldn’t be missed.

{August 2, 2009}