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obliged him to produce his work more rap-
idly and perhaps more carelessly in order to
earn a living. Whatever failings his writings
of the early 1900s may exhibit, the total
achievement of Galdós is both impressive
and, in its way, incomparable. Esteemed
primarily as a novelist, Galdós also wrote
many plays, which were often derived from
his
Novelas contemporáneas
and which were
highly successful in their day.
young man acquired there proved useful
after his return in 1905 to L
ISBON
, where he
earned his living as a translator of commer-
cial correspondence. He soon became a par-
ticipant in the Luso-Brazilian modernist
movement, contributing essays to its maga-
zine
Orpheu.
His early poetical work was
published in English (beginning in 1918)
and did not attract much attention. It was
not until the very end of his life that Pessoa
ventured into Portuguese, and his book of
poetry
Mensagem
(Messages, 1934) did not
attract much notice, either. Only after his
death, as a series of posthumous topics
appeared, did his rich imagination and
command of the Portuguese language
become known and applauded. Particularly
striking was his use of figures whom he
called “heteronyms,” who were in fact
alternate manifestations of himself. These
other identities are reflected in the titles of
his poetical works:
Poesias de Fernando Pes-
soa
(1942),
Poesias de Álvaro de Campos
(1944),
Poemas de Alberto Caeiro
(1946) and
Odes de Ricardo Reis
(1946). Ironically, in the
years following his death Pessoa became,
perhaps, the best known of early 20th-cen-
tury Portuguese poets.
Peru (Perú)
This name, originally applied to a coastal
zone on the Atlantic shore of South Amer-
ica, was later used to designate the heart-
land of the Inca Empire, which beginning
in the early 13th century also gained con-
trol of what is now E
CUADOR
, B
OLIVIA
, and
C
HILE
. After initial probes during the 1520s
Spaniards launched an invasion and con-
quest of the Inca lands during the 1530s.
From 1542 the designation Viceroyalty of
Peru was applied to the whole continent,
with the seat of government in Peru
proper. During the 18th century some
northern and eastern areas of South
America were assigned to new, separate
viceroyalties. Peru proclaimed its inde-
pendence from Spain in 1821 but did not
win its final victory until 1824. It had to
fight one more short war (1866) with the
“mother country,” however, to establish
its full sovereignty.
Peter II (Pedro II)
(1648-1706)
king of Portugal
The younger son of J
OHN
IV, Peter was frus-
trated by the fact that his older brother,
A
FONSO
VI, was both mentally and physi-
cally incapacitated to the point where his
kingship was essentially a mockery. In 1667
Peter deposed Afonso in a coup d'état that
enjoyed wide support. Having arranged for
the annulment of his brother's nominal
marriage to the French princess Marie-
Françoise, Peter married the lady. However,
Pessoa, Fernando António
Nogueira
(1888-1935)
Portuguese poet
Pessoa spent his youth in Durban, South
Africa, where his stepfather was Portuguese
consul. The mastery of English that the
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