The spiritual wandering of a stranger-《The Year of the Death of Ricar》
《The Year of the Death of Ricar》 is a classic novel by Jose salamargo, a Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize winner in literature. Interestingly, the host, umbricardo Reyes, was originally one of the dissidents of Portuguese poet Fernando pesoa.
We can regard the alien as a fictional character of pesoa. Pesoah has a peculiar habit. He uses the identity of different synonyms to create works, and even makes up the biography, life experience, appearance, occupation and other information of the synonyms, as if there is such a person living in the world.
When using these synonyms to create works, pesoah must try to forget himself and devote himself to this "false identity", just like a dutiful actor on the stage and "make a scene" personally. Or, pesoah wants to separate one part of his mind, let it express itself, and hide the rest. In this way, these dissidents are all part of pesoa's mind. In a word, these synonyms are the ingenious tricks of pesoa.
Ricardo Reyes is a poet and doctor, a well-educated "intellectual", close to pesoa's identity, and pesoa did not set the time for Reyes to die. In salamargo's works, Reyes returned to Lisbon from Rio de Janeiro shortly after his death in pesoa. However, after 16 years, Reyes is a stranger to Lisbon. Reyes tried to adapt and integrate into Lisbon, but the effect was not obvious. His career, his love, seems to be not smooth. He was stuck here, at a loss and very lonely. He could only passively wait for pesoa's soul to suddenly visit him and have a long talk with him for comfort.
Reyes is full of concern for his hometown. He always reads the latest newspaper on time, pays attention to the development trend of the city, and is always willing to read the contents of the newspaper to two old people who often sit together in the park. Unfortunately, the two old people are always confused. In Reyes' eyes, his hometown is like these two old people who "don't know what's going on outside the window". They have no idea of their future, and they seem to be half blind. Reyes wanted to wake up his hometown, but he couldn't communicate. He could only watch his hometown sleeping. He was anxious, uneasy and helpless.
In the face of his hometown, Reyes can't find his own position and future. It's not finished, but it's not just right. Maybe Reyes is a shadow of pesoah and a part of his soul. He was reluctant to leave because there were still countless questions in his heart that he wanted to solve, and he wanted to keep searching for the answers that he could not get.
Reyes is lonely, just like pesoa. With pesoa's death, no one can give Reyes the role of energy and motivation, Reyes's vitality will be exhausted. Even if salamargo writes for him, he can only reflect his figure, but can not make him fresh again and glow with new light.
A fictional character can't do without his creator. But don't forget, pesoah didn't set a time for Reyes to die, that is to say, pesoah didn't intend to let Reyes die before he died. Maybe he still has a lot to say through Reyes. Reyes, a synonym, reposes pesoaa's unfinished hope and also carries pesoaa's irreparable regret. So, in the year of Ricardo Reyes' death, we can see Reyes' bewilderment, his myriad thoughts, and pesoa's part that he can't bear to leave.