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On 12 July, 5pm, Prof. Paulo de Medeiros will be presenting on Fernando 
Pessoa and Psychoanalysis. 
Venue: Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, room 273
Senate House, Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
 .

Fernando Pessoa, Portugal’s great modernist poet, whose posthumous Book of 
Disquiet is now acclaimed as a masterpiece that crosses over into 
postmodernism, presents an important case to analyze relations between 
literature and pscyonalaysis.  Although Pessoa was aware of Freud he 
developed his own views on the subject, writing both essays as well as many 
poems and other prose pieces where he questions notions of selfhood.  The 
most well-known aspect is his use of heteronyms — endowed with fictional 
biographies — to write considerably different texts.  However, ther are 
many other facets still to be explored.  Symptomatically, Pessoa’s 
relationship with psychoanalysis has been left largely unexplored, with 
only one recent book (José Martinho, Pessoa e a Psicanálise, 2001) starting 
to explore it.  In my presentation I will aim at making clear the different 
ways in which Pessoa and his texts relate to Psychoanalysis, taking into 
account the channels opened up by Martinho, but hopefully going beyond them.

On 1 November, Orit Beck will present on A brief history of Psychoanalysis 
in Brasil

On 13 December Mike Richards will present on Problems of war and memory in 
Spain, 1936 to the present.

For some background, please note:
Mike Richards is interested in the social and cultural history of Spain in 
the twentieth century and, particularly, the civil war and memories of war. 
His book A Time of Silence: Civil War and the Culture of Repression in 
Franco’s Spain, 1936-45 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1998 
and he has recently co-edited a volume of essays on the Spanish civil war 
and cultural history, called The Splintering of Spain (CUP, 2005). His 
recent research has included work on religion and identity, eugenics, 
psychiatry and health, and social memory. He is currently working on a book 
provisionally called 'Civil War and Collective Memory in Spain: Social 
change and historical consciousness, 1936-2006'. Mike Richards is Associate 
Head of the School of History, UWE, Bristol.