Camilo Pessanha

Camilo de Almeida Pessanha (born 7 September 1867 in Coimbra, Portugal, † March 1, 1926 in Macau) was a Portuguese writer and one of the most important representatives of the Portuguese symbolism. He was also a member of the Coimbra Questão.

Life

Camilo Pessanha was born on September 7, 1867 as the son of a law student with aristocratic ancestors and whose housekeeper in Coimbra. His schooling Pessanha received mainly in Lamego, where his father worked as a judge. 1884 Pessanha followed the example of his father and enrolled at the Law Faculty of the University of Coimbra, his family moved with him in the traditional university town. There he began, 17 years old, with the writer first poems, which he published in the local newspapers "Gazeta de Coimbra " and " O Novo Tempo". In 1881 he began as Assistant Secretary of the Regional Agent, in Portuguese subdelegado do Procurator Régio to work in Mirandela, later he moved to Óbidos.

1894 moved Pessanha in the Portuguese colony in China, Macau. There he taught first as a professor of history and philosophy at the newly founded Liceum Macau, after which he worked as an official of the Land Office and as a judge in the District Court macaensischen. Camilo Pessanha transformed into an important figure of the colonial society life, he assimilated with the Chinese culture. He lived with an oriental woman together who already had children, smoking opium and collecting Chinese art and ceramics, which can be visited in the Machado de Castro Museum in Coimbra today. Between 1894 and 1915, traveled Pessanha several times back to Portugal for treatment because his health the tropical humid climate of Macao could not stand. Camilo Pessanha died on 1 March 1926 in Macau on pulmonary tuberculosis, the cause of the excessive use of opium is suspected.

Works

Although Camilo Pessanha applies alongside António Nobre as one of the most important representatives of the Portuguese Symbolism, he took care of even relatively little about the publication and collection of his poems, most of which were oral dissemination. In addition Pessanha was never dependent on the publication of his works, since he lived independently financially. In addition to his poems Camilo Pessanha published a 1912 book titled " Esboco Crítico because Civilização Chinesa " to German Critical design of Chinese civilization, he also wrote a preface entitled Literatura sobre Ensino Chinesa to German " teaching of Chinese literature ", for the work Oito Elegias Chinesas in 1914.

His friend and admirer João de Castro Osório, knew each other from the studies in Coimbra, collected and categorized Pessanhas poems. He published in 1920 a book of poems under the title " clepsydra " which contains nine sonnets and 14 poems.

• Author
• Literature ( Portuguese)
• Portuguese
• Person (Coimbra )
• Born in 1867
• Died in 1926
• Man