First of all, thanks so much to all those who suggested the names of English
travelling writers in Ravenna.
I do have another question, though. I've just finished reading a famous
Italian novel called "Sostiene Pereira" (that is, "Claims Pereira" or
"Pereira Claims") by Antonio Tabucchi, issued in 1993. It's the story of a
Portuguese journalist living in Lisbon in the 1940s, during the Salazar
dictatorship. He publishes an article about the violence of the Salazarist
police and has to flee to France. The novel is narrated as if it were some
report (told by Pereira and re-told by a third person) spoken during a
trial, and most sentences include the phrase «Pereira claims [that]».
Antonio Tabucchi included a note at the end of the novel, stating that the
name of the main character was inspired by Eliot's passage «What about
Pereira?» in Sweeney Agonistes. I must admit I have never read the passage.
Could anyone post it? (the university library will be closed for a month and
I have no way of getting Eliot's work).
I thank you in advance.
Best wishes,
Sara Trevisan
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