This dissertation examines Jos Saramagos novel The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, with a focus on how the author appropriates the voices of Fernando Pessoa and his heteronyms in response to Pessoas literary creation. By investigating Saramagos aesthetics of quotation in this particular novel, I demonstrate how the author explores two fundamental questions that emerge from Fernando Pessoas poetics: language and identity. I argue that quotations serve, essentially, as authorial sources for the (re)construction of the heteronym Ricardo Reis, and on a ideological level, as Saramagos response to the underlying political circumstances of both Fernando Pessoas and Saramagos respective time periods. In addition, I demonstrate how the literal dialogues that take place in the novel between Pessoa e Reis are emblematic of a polyphonic novel. Therefore, my dissertation incorporates theoretical observations made by Mikhail Bakhtin concerning dialogism and polyphony, and engagesSaramagos aesthetics of quotation as they appear in the novel in an epistemological (language), ontological (identity), and literary context.
