Dreams of Dreams and the Last Three Days of Fernando Pessoa

Elaborately imagined, Italian novelist Tabucchi's (Pereira Declares) new offering is both a mini-catalogue of great artists' dreams and the author's interpretation of the last three days in the life of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. Some of the dreamers Tabucchi chooses to conjure up include Greek architect Daedalus; Carlo Collodi, author of Pinocchio; painter Caravaggio; poet Arthur Rimbaud; composer Debussy; and the father of dream analysis, Sigmund Freud. These short reveries center around memorable, jewellike details - Daedalus teaches a Minotaur trapped in a maze on his Greek island how to fly; Rimbaud wanders the French countryside with his own amputated leg under his arm, wrapped in a newspaper printed with his poems. The recreation of Pessoa's last days is a complex narrative. All of the alternate poetic personae the poet ever created--including Antonio Mora, a mad philosopher; shy accountant Bernardo Soares; and the monarchist doctor, Ricardo Reis--visit him on his deathbed. Through these conversations with his own multiple personalities, the poet at last achieves peace. - Publishers Weekly