Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Pereira Declares
Pereira Declares is a story about a journalist's journey for how he goes about writing his articles for the culture page he is the editor for during a time period where parts of Europe are under a regime. Throughout the book, Pereira talks about what makes a good article and what makes literature. He hires an assistant Monteiro Rossi to help write obituaries for him, however, in Pereira's view Monteiro Rossi cannot write. Pereira declares that his work is unpublishable. Pereria states, "when you write an obiturary you are essentially making a critical assessment, a portrait of the man and his work, what you have written is completely unusable, Lorca's death is still wrapped in mystery and what if things didn't happen as you say they did?" ( Tabucchi 22). To write is to tell the truth and reveal the facts for how someone died, in this instance since it is an obiturary. Pereria is saying that Monteiro did just the opposite and inserted his personal opinion into the article and wrote it like a piece of literature that can be fictional. In literature you can rely on the figment of your imagination and make an individual who you want them to be, but in an article you have to present them however the facts make them look. This book becomes a story about how to write literature and what it means to be a writer. The reader sees Pereria live his daily routine as a writer and it does become boring and a slow paced book, but it is a view into this lifestyle that readers do not get to see ordinarily. Pereria says, "literature appears to only concern itself with fantasies, but perhaps it expresses the truth," (18). Literature develops from the truth. It has to be based of reality just like a newspaper article, however, with literature a writer has more freedom to express him or herself. This is what I believe this book to be about. It is about the freedom of expression and living in a regime. The reader sees how Pereria lives it and who he meets along the way. No matter who he meets or the events that occur it always comes down to the writing and how he can retell the event. It's about how to find the truth in something you are recounting.
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There is a certain responsibility that accompanies writing. I think that the dispute between Rossi and Pereirra has less to do with truth and more to do with their differing definitions of the word responsibility. Pereirra's definition falls under what is acceptable based on governmental implications. Rossi's definition of responsibility "obeys the reasons of the heart," (Tabucchi 17). Fortunately, Pereirra is able to adopt Rossi's definition and from there, he can seek the truth. He is able to transform from a gutless bystander to a active seeker of truth.
ReplyDeleteTo add on to that, I think that writers also has an ethical responsibility in different forms of writing, even in obituaries. In the book, Pereira mentions that as a cultural columnist, he does not have to involve any of his political standing of it - which is not possible, for any forms of writing encompass a certain amount of responsibility - how the author presents it, what is written and what is omitted, the chronological order of the events being written....therefore, it is really important for authors to have a proper understanding of the ethics of writing, and the important impact of literature to the general society.
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