PLCS 28 (2015)
Fernando Pessoa as English Reader and Writer

"Barrowby", Boys’ Books, and How to Make Literature

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  • Richard Zenith
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62791/qyz5zg58

Published 2016-09-22

Copyright (c) 2016 Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies

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Abstract

ABSTRACT: In what is commonly understood to be an autobiographical note, Fernando Pessoa wrote, "Those books which are called boys’ books and deal with exciting experiences I cared little for." In fact, as a young adolescent in Durban, Fernando not only read a lot of "boys’ books," he also tried to write one of his own: Os Rapazes de Barrowby (The Boys of Barrowby) lifted its title, the names of some characters, and various structural details from The Barrowboy Boys, serialized in a British magazine for boys in 1903. Pessoa completely changed the story, however, and partly subverted the genre.

KEYWORDS: boys’ books, Barrowby, story papers, dime novels, O Palrador, Durban

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