He left the article with Senhor Pedro and made it to the door. He felt like a wet rag and his insides were churning madly. It occurred to him to stop for a sandwich at the café at the corner, but in the end he only ordered a lemonade. Then he took a taxi as far as the cathedral. He entered the flat warily, afraid that someone might be lying in wait for him. But there was no one there, only an enormous silence. He went into the bedroom and gazed a moment at the sheet that covered Monteiro Rossi. Then he fetched a small suitcase, packed the absolute minimum and the file of obituaries, went to the bookshelves and began to hunt through Monteiro Rossi’s passports. Eventually he came across one that suited him. It was a French passport, a good piece of work, the photograph was of a fat man with bags under his eyes, and the age was about right. His name was Baudin, François Baudin. It sounded a pretty good name to Pereira. He slipped the passport into the suitcase and picked up the picture of his wife. I’m taking you with me, he told it, you’d much better come with me. He packed it face up, so that she could breathe freely. Then he took a look around and glanced at his watch.
Better be getting along, the Lisboa would be out any moment and there was no time to lose, Pereira declares.
ANTONIO TABUCCHI was born at Pisa in 1943. He has travelled widely and lived in India and Portugal, before settling in his native Tuscany, where he holds the Chair of Literature in the University of Siena. He has long been the foremost Italian champion of Portuguese literature and is the translator of Fernando Pessoa. He is author of a considerable oeuvre which is published in many languages, including English. For Requiem he was awarded the Italian PEN Club Prize.
Pereira Declares, which has won the Viareggio and Campiello prizes, has been made into a film starring Marcello Mastroianni and Daniel Auteuil.
Also by Antonio Tabucchi
THE EDGE OF THE HORIZON
INDIAN NOCTURNE
LETTER FROM CASABLANCA
LITTLE MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF NO IMPORTANCE
REQUIEM
Copyright © 1994 by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore
Copyright © 1995 by Patrick Creagh
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
This translation is published by arrangement with
The Harvill Press, London.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Limited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
[Sostiene Pereira. English]
Pereira Declares : a testimony / Antonio Tabucchi : translated by Patrick Creagh.
p.cm.
eISBN 978-0-8112-2191-7
Portugal—History—1910-1974—Fiction. I.Creagh,
Patrick. II. Title
PQ4880.A24S6613 1996
853’.914—dc20 95-43565
CIP
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
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