COMPLETE 35 Sonnets by Fernando Pessoa -ck

[Carolin]

35 Sonnets by Fernando Pessoa (1888 - 1935).

This project is now complete! All audio files can now be found on the catalog page for this project: https://librivox.org/35-sonnets-by-fernando-pessoa/

While Fernando Pessoa is internationally now known mostly for his masterpiece The Book of Disquiet, he was also an outstanding poet. 35 of his sonnets are collected in this volume. ( Carolin)

• 1. How to claim a part, and "how it all works" here To find a section to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are "up for grabs." Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which section you would like to read (include the section number from the left-most column in the reader list, please). Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
  2. New to recording? Please read our Newbie Guide to Recording!
  3. Is there a deadline? We ask that you submit your recorded sections within 1-2 months of placing your claim. Please note that to be fair to the readers who have completed their sections in a timely way, if you haven't submitted your recording(s) after two months, your sections will automatically be re-opened for other readers to claim, unless you post in this thread to request an extension. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of the Book Coordinator. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it'll go back to the pool. There's no shame in this; we're all volunteers and things happen.Please do not sign up for more sections than you can complete within the two month deadline.
  4. Where do I find the text? Source text (please only read from this text!): http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19978
  5. Please claim sections (the numbers in the first column below)! If this is your first recording, please let me know under which name or pseudonym you'd like to appear in the LibriVox catalogue. We can also link to a personal website/blog.
     
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  6. BEFORE recording: Please check the Recording Notes: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430
     
     Set your recording software to:
     Channels: 1 (Mono)
     Bit Rate: 128 kbps
     Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
  7. DURING recording:
     • At the beginning of the recording, read the abbreviated "LibriVox disclaimer":
     "[Poem title], by Fernando Pessoa, read for LibriVox.org" by [your name] or some variation on that, adding date, location, your personal URL, etc., if you wish.
     • Then read the poem.
     • At the end, say: "End of poem. This recording is in the public domain." and leave five seconds of silence.
  8. At the end of the book, say (in addition):
     "End of 35 Sonnets by Fernando Pessoa.
     Pessoa is pronounced /pɛˈsoʊə/
     There should be 5 seconds silence at the end of the recording, or 10 seconds for files longer than 30 minutes.
     
     Please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!
  9. AFTER recording
     Need noise-cleaning?
     Listen to your file through headphones. If you can hear some constant background noise (hiss/buzz), you may want to clean it up a bit. The new (free) version 1.3.3. of Audacity has much improved noise-cleaning. See this LibriVox wiki page for a complete guide.
     Save files as
     128 kbps MP3
     35sonnets_##_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the section number (e.g. 35sonnets_01_pessoa_128kb.mp3)
  10. Example ID3 V2 tags
      (To find out more about ID3 tags, go to our wiki: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/What_is_ID3)
      Add the following tags to your .mp3 file (how you do this depends on which software you use – if you are unsure about ID3 tags, send me a message). Please mind upper and lower case!
      Artist: Fernando Pessoa
      Title: ## - [Section title]
      Album: 35 Sonnets
      
      Please ignore tags for Genre and Track Number - these will be filled in automatically at the cataloguing stage.
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      • Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader
        
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      • When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread.
      • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.
      
      
      Any questions?
      Please post below

[Carolin]

another volume ready for readers. one of my favourite writers. if you havent read the book of disquiet yet, get your hands on a copy asap

a dpl is of course also welcome!

[RyanF]

Hi, I'd like to claim sonnets 4, 7, 14, 15, 18, 22 and 28, which struck me as examples of the author doing particularly good, diverse work with the ever-versatile sonnet form.

(There are, however, a few poems in this collection where one really does get the impression that the author knowingly allows himself to pen some lines that are so muddled and opaque that they're basically indecipherable. This, in such a juxtaposition, is always disappointing to see.

Oh, and though it's hard to tell whether or not there's a vein of extenuating irony running through it, the infantile self-pitying in Sonnet XXXIV is really quite remarkable. In it, the author, incredibly enough, envies "the maimed... the mad, the blind" for being considered worthless from the get-go, and laments that, oppositely, he must fear losing others' good opinion of him should he prove a fool or failure. I dare say this is one of those sentiments which could have bore going unpublished, especially in the guise of prettifying poesy...)

[Carolin]

thank you ryan. i agree that pessoas poems are really diverse, in topic, atmosphere and quality. maybe some of the quality problems can be explained with problems in the translation, but also with pessoas excentricity.

Pessoa was a prolific writer, and not only under his own name, for he dreamed up approximately seventy-five others. He did not call them pseudonyms because he felt that did not capture their true independent intellectual life and instead called them heteronyms. These imaginary figures sometimes held unpopular or extreme views.

[RyanF]

That certainly could be an explanation, Carolin, and quite a fascinating one at that. I do quite like the idea of a book of poetry written from the perspectives of different invented alter-egos. (Though if that is the case here, I would have expected these sonnets to, where applicable, be signed with the 'heteronyms' of the characters voicing them - that would have made things a lot clearer.)

Anyway, enough of these poems stood out to me that I would probably be interested in exploring some of the author's other work at some point. One of my favourite things about Librivox, in the short time I've been here, has been how it pushes me to discover new writers I may like

[Carolin]

[GrayHouse]

Hi Carolin,
May I start with Section 20, please?
Thank you,
-Ian

[Carolin]

of course, thank you ian!

[Kitty]

I see you are still looking for a DPL, so if that's ok, I can do it I love sonnets and I don't know Pessoa yet. Looking forward to getting to know his poetry that way.

Sonia

[Carolin]

thats great, thank you sonia!

[RyanF]

Here's my readings:

Sonnet 4 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_04_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:24)
Sonnet 7 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_07_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:32)
Sonnet 14 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_14_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:33)
Sonnet 15 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_15_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:32)
Sonnet 18 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_18_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:31)
Sonnet 22 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_22_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:33)
Sonnet 28 - https://librivox.org/uploads/carolin/35sonnets_28_pessoa_128kb.mp3 (1:39)

I enjoyed making these recordings, I have to say; they were an interesting challenge. Upon first reading these sonnets, I did view Pessoa's favoured style of syntax and poetic rhythm, which tends towards intricate complexity, as though it was surely going to create some headaches for me when I was recording them. I expected that trying to read them aloud in such a way as would preserve the elaborate flourishes of poetic construction and yet still allow what is actually being said to be followed and understood was going to be a matter of many re-takes during recording. Yet, in the end, I found I was able to record nearly all of these poems, in the way I wanted to, in a single continuous take without issue - which is otherwise a rarity for me. This, I think, is a credit to Pessoa really, as his manner of writing turns out to be deceptively well-tuned for translation into speech too, which is an oft-overlooked feather in the cap for any author.

Anyway, best of luck going forward! I hope more readers flood into this project very soon, as it really is, for various reasons, a compelling book of poetry

[Carolin]

thank you so much, ryan

[Kitty]

Here's my readings:

Hi Ryan and thanks for this wonderful reading...I listened to them all in one go now and each time I was like entranced by your smooth-flowing yet quiet reading. This would be excellent meditation background reading.

No textual errors found, flawless reading Gonna mark all of them PL ok. A good start.

Yet, in the end, I found I was able to record nearly all of these poems, in the way I wanted to, in a single continuous take without issue - which is otherwise a rarity for me. This, I think, is a credit to Pessoa really, as his manner of writing turns out to be deceptively well-tuned for translation into speech too, which is an oft-overlooked feather in the cap for any author.

to be fair of course, it is more the skill of the translator in this collection, since it's not Pessoa's original writings (or is it ?) I think he wrote in Portuguese if I'm not mistaken.

Anyway, best of luck going forward! I hope more readers flood into this project very soon, as it really is, for various reasons, a compelling book of poetry

I totally agree and I'm happy I volunteered to DPL ! My favourite so far is Sonnet 28, especially this line: "Only what in this is not this is real" made me pause the recording and think about for a while...interesting sentence.

I have only one question: In Sonnet 15, there is the line: "I daily live, i'th' fame I dream to see". You read the "i'th'" as "ayth". I always thought it would be read with short "ee", since it is the contracted version of "in the", isn't it ? But since I'm not a native speaker and you are, I will take your word for it. Just wanted to mention it, because it struck me as strange.

Sonia

[RyanF]

Thank you so much, Sonia, for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed listening to the recordings

to be fair of course, it is more the skill of the translator in this collection, since it's not Pessoa's original writings (or is it ?) I think he wrote in Portuguese if I'm not mistaken.

This is certainly a worthwhile point to make and credit should indeed go to the translator - a perennially unappreciated role, of course - though I think that this mostly applies to specific instances of wording, which is where a translator's influence ultimately lies, whereas Pessoa's peculiar syntax and manipulation of poetic form should, one would hope, simply have been transferred over during translation.

My favourite so far is Sonnet 28, especially this line: "Only what in this is not this is real" made me pause the recording and think about for a while...interesting sentence.

Ah yes, and I really liked the final four lines of that sonnet: "For the rarer potion mine own dreams I'll take/ And for truth commune with imaginings/ Holding a dream too bitter, a too fair curse/ This common sleep of men, the universe". That last line in particular, being such a perfect capstone for the poem, really grabbed me. It struck me as quite Shakespearean in its formulation too, being so simple and concise and yet pronouncing so definitively upon such a grand matter.

I have only one question: In Sonnet 15, there is the line: "I daily live, i'th' fame I dream to see". You read the "i'th'" as "ayth". I always thought it would be read with short "ee", since it is the contracted version of "in the", isn't it ? But since I'm not a native speaker and you are, I will take your word for it. Just wanted to mention it, because it struck me as strange.

I believe you're right that it is indeed a contraction of 'in the'. As far as I'm aware, it's an archaic contraction which has long fallen out of use (though interestingly it does remain in use in one or two old place names here in England). I did try, via Google, to find some examples of how to correctly pronounce it but I simply found nothing of any use. So, I decided to just make my best educated guess, which led me, given this was the only parallel which sprang to mind, to pronounce it as if it were the letter-swapped equivalent of the mathematical term 'nth', which I figured would convey the spelling fairly well. So, yeah, that was the thought process on my end

[Kitty]

Ah yes, and I really liked the final four lines of that sonnet: "For the rarer potion mine own dreams I'll take/ And for truth commune with imaginings/ Holding a dream too bitter, a too fair curse/ This common sleep of men, the universe". That last line in particular, being such a perfect capstone for the poem, really grabbed me. It struck me as quite Shakespearean in its formulation too, being so simple and concise and yet pronouncing so definitively upon such a grand matter.

yes definitely Shakepearean, now that you mention it...maybe that was the subconscious reason why it spoke so much to me.

So, I decided to just make my best educated guess, which led me, given this was the only parallel which sprang to mind, to pronounce it as if it were the letter-swapped equivalent of the mathematical term 'nth', which I figured would convey the spelling fairly well. So, yeah, that was the thought process on my end

aha, all right, probably a valid explanation LOL It's interesting there are words in English not even a native speaker would know how to pronounce... One has to ask the people who live in those villages you mentioned, with th i'th' in the name, they should know.

Sonia