A quotation from Seneca is missing
about a so-called poem for children
pp. 309-321
in: Ana Falcato, Antonio Cardiello (eds), Philosophy in the condition of modernism, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
There is a famous poem by Fernando Pessoa, written in 1935, the year of his death, named "Liberty" ("Liberdade"), which begins with an epigraph signalling an inexistent quotation: "(quotation from Seneca is Missing)". That poem, which was censured in 1935 and is nowadays frequently published in books for children, enables us to discuss the triad from literary criticism revisited by Umberto Eco: the author's intention, the intention of the text and the intention of the reader. Without the epigraph—without that interpretative key—and without contextualization, "Liberdade" is a poem that allows a completely free interpretation; with the epigraph and context, it is a text that reveals the beginning of Fernando Pessoa's opposition towards the Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.
