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Tabucchi

General questions:
  • What is the role of literature?
  • How do we judge the value of a literary work?
  • What is the relationship between literature and reality? Between literature and politics?
Questions on Chapters 1-6 (Week 5)
  • What does ‘sostiene’ mean? What is the effect of the repetition of ‘sostiene Pereira’?
  • Comment on the narrative technique used by Tabucchi? What effect does this create?
  • Describe Pereira’s character. Does this develop in the text?
  • Pereira used to write for the crime section of the newspaper and now he writes the culture pages. What does this change of direction represent?
  • What is the role of memory in the text? How does it impact on Pereira’s life?
  • What do we learn about Monteiro Rossi? Why does Pereira consider his articles to be unpublishable and why does he continue to pay him for these articles?
  • What sense do we get of the political situation in these early chapters?
Questions on Chapter 10 (week 7)

Comment on the portrayal here of Pereira’s relationship with his old friend, Silva (bearing in mind the previous chapter).

Comment on the details given of Pereira’s diet and health treatment.

What is the significance of Pereira’s encounter on the train back to Lisbon, in terms of:

• His relationships with women
• His attitude to current politics
• His beliefs regarding religion
• His beliefs regarding literature
• His attitude to his own work and public position

Comment on any features of style in this chapter which are significant or typical of this novel.


Questions on Chapter 13 (week 7)

Comment on the ways in which literature features in this chapter.

Comment on the details given in this chapter of Pereira’s diet and health treatment.

What is the significance of Pereira’s conversation with Marta, in terms of:

  • Monteiro Rossi’s political activities
  • Marta’s comments on P’s politics
  • Pereira’s comments on literature and culture
  • Marta’s statements about history
  • Pereira’s growing political engagement?

Comment on any features of style in this chapter which are significant or typical of this novel.


Questions on Chapter 16 (week 8)

Comment on the portrayal here of Pereira’s relationship with Dr Cardoso.

Comment on the details given of Pereira’s diet and health treatment.

What is the significance of Pereira’s conversation with Cardoso, in terms of:

  • Cardoso’s areas of professional specialism
  • Pereira’s comments on ‘pentimento’
  • Pereira’s anxieties regarding religion
  • Pereira’s anxieties regarding literature
  • Cardoso’s explanation of the ‘confederazione delle anime’/‘io egemone’
  • Cardoso’s recommendations

Comment on any features of style in this chapter which are significant or typical of this novel.

Questions on Chapter 19 (week 8)

What is the significance of Pereira’s conversation with padre António, in terms of:

  • Pereira’s anxieties about the human soul or psyche, and about religion
  • Pereira’s need to ‘confess’
  • Pereira’s anxieties about literature and culture, and about his work
  • Padre Antonio's comments on French writers
  • Pereira’s growing political engagement?

Comment on the references to Pereira’s childhood in this chapter.

Comment on the role of Celeste in this chapter.

What is the significance of the ‘ricorrenza’ which P reads in this chapter?

Comment on any features of style in this chapter which are significant or typical of this novel


Discuss the action Pereira takes in the final chapter.