Pereira Maintains

According to Pereira (Italian original title Sostiene Pereira ) is a politically engaged historical novel of the Italian literary scholar and writer Antonio Tabucchi, which first appeared in 1994 in the publishing house Feltrinelli in Milan. The German translation by Karin Fleischanderl appeared a year later by Carl Hanser Verlag.

Content

The novel takes place in Portugal in the summer of 1938. António de Oliveira Salazar has just come to power and the country has a firm grip. Repression and censorship dominate life in Lisbon. The elderly widower Dr. Pereira heads the one-man culture editor of a Catholic weekly newspaper, where he published obituaries of recently deceased authors and translations of French tales. Even outside of the editorial he makes often thought about death. About an excerpt from his dissertation, he meets the young philosophy graduates Monteiro Rossi know who is active in the resistance. Pereira develops paternal feelings for him and lets him write obituaries, however, proved to be not publishable because of the passionate political opinions. The secret police attaches itself on the trail of the philosopher and puts him in the apartment Pereira. In 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 details about what happened and the killer called by name. He placed it past the censors, in his newspaper. To escape the consequences of this action, he takes a fake passport from the belongings Monteiro Rossi, leaving the country.

Narrative technique

The novel is built into a narrative framework, the insertion, which accounts for the title, running through the 200 pages of the book. Again and again, thus drawing attention to the narrative situation: Dr. Pereira has made representations with the author of the book and told him his story. This Tabucchi achieved the effect of testimony, as it says in the subtitle of the work, fabricated with the Tabucchi the authenticity of his story. Typical of Tabucchi are the many references to famous authors and works, creating a realistic atmosphere and vivid image is also generated. The focus is on the question of moral action and the power of literature.

Reception

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

In 1995 the book by Roberto Faenza was filmed with Marcello Mastroianni in the title role, and came in German-speaking under the title Pereira Declares (Italian orig. Sostiene Pereira ) in the cinemas.

Expenditure

• Sostiene Pereira. Una testimonianza. Feltrinelli, Milan 1994, ISBN 978-88-07-81381-8.
• According to Pereira. A testimony. (Eng. v. Karin Fleischanderl ) Hanser, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-446-18298-5.