Mário de Sá-Carneiro
Mário de Sá-Carneiro was a notable Portuguese writer born on May 19, 1890, in Lisbon. He experienced a turbulent childhood marked by the loss of his mother at a young age, which contributed to his lifelong struggles with emotional distress and solitude. Sá-Carneiro began writing poetry in his adolescence and made significant contributions to modern Portuguese literature, notably through his first collection, "Dispersão," published in 1914, and his acclaimed novel "A confissão de Lúcio," which explores themes of love, madness, and suicide. In 1912, he moved to Paris with his friend Fernando Pessoa, where they embraced a bohemian lifestyle amidst financial hardships. His mental health deteriorated over time, exacerbated by familial issues and complex personal relationships, including a rumored romantic connection with Pessoa. Tragically, Sá-Carneiro's life ended in suicide just weeks before his twenty-sixth birthday. Despite his brief existence, his works and influence remain significant in the landscape of Portuguese literature, particularly as part of the Generation d'Orpheu, a group he co-founded that sought to innovate and redefine literary expression in Portugal.
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Mário de Sá-Carneiro
Poet
- Born: May 19, 1890
- Birthplace: Lisbon, Portugal
- Died: April 26, 1916
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Mário de Sá-Carneiro was born in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 19, 1890, the only son born into a wealthy family. At the age of two, his mother died, and after her death he had a difficult childhood and adolescence marked by anguish and solitude. As an adolescent he began to write poetry, and at the age of fifteen he had translated some of the works of Victor Hugo. In 1911, he entered law school at Coimbra but was unable to complete even a year of education.
Sá-Carneiro left Portugal for Paris in 1912 along with his only friend, Fernando Pessoa. He intended to study at the Sorbonne, but because of his emotional problems he was never able to complete his studies. Instead, he and Pessoa decided to live the bohemian life, and they were often hungry and destitute. At one point, Sá-Carneiro became involved with a prostitute named Helene in an effort to fight his growing frustration and emotional difficulties.
Between 1913 and 1914, he regularly traveled back to Lisbon, where he joined with other Portuguese writers to found the literary magazine Orpheu, which resulted in this group of writers being called the Generation d’Orpehu or Group d’Orpheu. In 1915, Sá-Carneiro returned to Paris. The letters that he wrote to friends during this time indicated escalating psychological problems, characterized by emotional highs and lows. Some of these problems were likely caused by his father’s squandering of the family fortune and by his father’s marriage to a former prostitute. His depression also was likely affected by his friendship with Pessoa, with whom he may have had a homosexual relationship. Sá-Carneiro committed suicide in Paris a few weeks before his twenty-sixth birthday.
Although his life was brief, Sá-Carneiro is considered an important figure in modern Portuguese writing. He wrote several novels and short stories and published a number of poetry collections. His first poetry collection, Dispersão, was published in 1914. His greatest work is the novel A confissão de Lúcio (1914; Lúcio’s Confession, 1993), which is considered one of the most innovative novels of his generation. The novel features several of Sá-Carneiro’s recurring themes: perverted love, madness, and suicide. His correspondences with other members of the Group d’Orpheu were collected in several posthumously published volumes, including Letters to Fernando Pessoa.