Introduction to "'A Very Original Dinner'" by Fernando Pessoa
Published 2017-03-22
Copyright (c) 2017 Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies
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Abstract
ABSTRACT: “A Very Original Dinner” is a horror short story written in 1907 by Alexander Search, a fictional author created by Fernando Pessoa around 1906. In the story, Herr Prosit, a coarse but merry man, president of the Gastronomical Society of Berlin, invites all the members of the society to a very original dinner. Each member is challenged to discover the originality: Is it in a sauce? Is it in a new ingredient? Is it in the lighting of the room or arrangement of the tables? Originality could be in anything. The members, barely containing their fever of expectation, take each detail into account as they try to discover the originality in the banquet. Even though they have some hypotheses—sufficiently ridiculous—none of them imagines how far Prosit’s joke has gone this time.
KEYWORDS: Alexander Search, short story, originality, banquet