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Richard Zenith

リチャード・ゼニス

Richard Zenith

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1956-02-23 （Washington, D.C., United States）
Nationality
United States, Portugal
Languages
English, Portuguese
Residence History
Washington, D.C., United States → Colombia → Brazil → France → Portugal (Lisbon; since 1987)

Career

Occupations
writer, translator, literary scholar
Active Years
1979-
Influenced By
Fernando Pessoa

Education

University of Virginia
Degree: BA
Period: 1975-1979
Year of Graduation: 1979
Country: United States

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
1987
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation
1999
Organization: PEN (PEN America)
Result: 受賞
Harold Morton Landon Translation Award
2006
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞
Prémio Pessoa (Pessoa Prize)
2012
Organization: Prémio Pessoa committee (Portugal)
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
2022
Work: Pessoa: A Biography / Pessoa: An Experimental Life
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: ファイナリスト

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Book of Disquiet

2002 prose/fragmentary prose 480 pages

An English translation of Fernando Pessoa's fragmentary work The Book of Disquiet. Zenith compiles and translates Pessoa's heteronyms and fragmentary reflections with scholarly annotation.

interiorityselfsolitudemodernism

Pessoa: An Experimental Life

2021 biography 1055 pages

A comprehensive biography of Fernando Pessoa based on extensive research and annotations by Zenith, detailing Pessoa's life and his many heteronyms.

biographybibliographymodernist studiesheteronym studies

The Natural Order of Things (translation)

2001 novel (translation) 320 pages

An English translation of a novel by António Lobo Antunes. Zenith is known for bringing Portuguese-language literature to English-speaking readers.

memorycontemporary Portuguese history

Bibliography

  • The Book of Disquiet (translation of Fernando Pessoa)
  • Fernando Pessoa and Co.: Selected Poems (translation)
  • Pessoa: An Experimental Life (biography)
  • The Natural Order of Things (translation of António Lobo Antunes)
  • Multitudinous Heart: Selected Poems: A Bilingual Edition (translation of Carlos Drummond de Andrade)

Translations by Author

  • Many English translations of Fernando Pessoa's works
  • English translations of António Lobo Antunes and other Portuguese-language writers

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly, heavily annotated translations and biographiesfaithful lexical choices and stylistic reproduction of the original
Recurring Motifs
exploration of Portuguese literatureinterest in heteronymsreexamination of modernism

Legacy

Richard Zenith is regarded as one of the foremost experts on Fernando Pessoa and a principal translator introducing Portuguese-language literature to the English-speaking world. His annotated translations and major biography have had significant impact on Pessoa studies and contemporary Portuguese literary scholarship.

Museums

  • Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (exhibition co-curator) Lisbon, Portugal
  • Museum of Portuguese Language (exhibition in São Paulo) São Paulo, Brazil
  • Centro Cultural Correios (exhibition in Rio de Janeiro) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Archives

  • Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian archives (related materials)
  • Institutions holding Fernando Pessoa related materials (possible deposits/collections)

Quotes

  • Zenith's edition supersedes all others in its delicacy of style, rigorous scholarship and sympathy for Pessoa's fractured sensibility.
    Source: New Statesman (review) (2001)

Trivia

  • Received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1987.
  • Won the Prémio Pessoa in 2012 and is a naturalised Portuguese citizen.
  • Finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Biography or Autobiography for Pessoa: A Biography / Pessoa: An Experimental Life.