Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa, born on this day in 1888, is regarded as Portugal's most important 20th century poet, though he published very little in his lifetime. After his death in 1935, over 25,000 poems, letters and other bits were found in a trunk, written by Pessoa and his handful of "heteronyms" � sustained fictitious personas, each given a distinct biography and writing style by their creator. The postmodern result, say the critics, is "one of the most remarkable bodies of work of the century." Pessoa himself was a man of reclusive, legendary oddness among Lisbon's caf�s, where he continues to sit today.