Night Train to Lisbon
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The fields are greener in description than in their greenness." --Pessoa "If it so that we live only a small part of the life that is within is, what happens to the rest?"--Night Train to Lisbon (2004) by by Pascal Mercier Our lives are rivers, gliding free to that unfathomed, boundless sea, the silent grave! --Jorge Manrique, epigraph "We are all patchwork, and so shapeless and diverse in composition that each bit, each moment, plays its own game. And there is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others."--Essays by Michel de Montaigne "Of the thousand experiences we have, we find language for one at most and even this one merely by chance and without the care which it deserves. Among all these unexpressed experiences are those that are hidden and which have given our life. Its shape, its colour and its melody. If we then, as archaeologists of the soul, turn to examine these treasures, we will discover how confusing they are. The object of our examination refuses to stand still, the words glance off the experience we are left with a lot of contradictions. For a long time, I thought this was a defect, something that had to be overcome. Now I think differently: that it is the recognition of the confusion that is the key to understanding these intimate yet enigmatic experiences. That sounds strange, even bizarre, I know. But ever since I have seen the issue in this light, I have the feeling of being really awake and alive for the first time."--Night Train to Lisbon (2004) by by Pascal Mercier citing the fictional book A Goldsmith of Words "Gregorius stood at the display window of Bubenberg Cinema. The late show was a black-and-white film of a novel by Georges Simenon: L'homme qui regardait passer les trains."--Night Train to Lisbon (2004) by by Pascal Mercier "Do wrong to thyself, do wrong to thyself, my soul; but later thou wilt no longer have the opportunity of respecting and honouring thyself. For every man has but one life. But yours is nearly finished, though in it you had no regard for yourself but placed thy felicity in the souls of others … But those who do not observe the impulses of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy."--Meditations by Marcus Aurelius "He read about Portuguese fascism and the secret police, PIDE, which Rui Luís Mendes, the Butcher of Lisbon, had belonged to."--Night Train to Lisbon (2004) by by Pascal Mercier "It was much easier to be taken in by António de Oliveira Salazar, the aristocratic professor, than by Hitler, Stalin or Franco. You would never have associated with such scum, you would have been immune to them through your intelligence and your unerring sense of style, and you never raised your arm in the fascist salute, I’d stake my life on that."--Night Train to Lisbon (2004) by by Pascal Mercier |
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Night Train to Lisbon (2004) is a novel by Pascal Mercier depicting the travels of Swiss classics professor Raimund Gregorius as he explores the life of the fictional physician Amadeu de Prado.
Prado was a Portuguese physician during the era of António de Oliveira Salazar's right wing dictatorship in Portugal.
Prado is a heavy thinker whose active mind becomes evident in a collection of his notes collected and read by Mundus through his journeys.
The story was adapted for a film of the same name.
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Characters
Raimund "Mundus" Gregorius, 57 years old, is a teacher at a Swiss gymnasium in modern-day Bern. He is an expert in ancient languages (ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew) and a man very comfortable in his routine. One morning on his way to work, he saves a mysterious Portuguese woman from what he assumes is a suicide attempt. Although the woman disappears shortly afterwards, their chance-encounter marks the beginning of Raimund's journey. Later that day, he visits an antiquarian bookshop where he discovers Um ourives das palavras (A Goldsmith of Words, this may refer to Gil Vicente, a formidable playwright and poet of the Portuguese Renaissance who had possibly been a goldsmith), a book by Amadeu de Prado. The author ponders the philosophical issue of going back in time and making various different choices, resulting in a completely different life. Raimund is immediately intrigued by the author's somber musings. The book is in Portuguese, a language Raimund doesn't speak, so he begins translating with the help of a dictionary. Sensing a kindred spirit in Amadeu, he is suddenly gripped by the fear of not living his life to its full potential. The next morning, he abandons his teaching position, turns his back on Bern and sets out for Lisbon. There, he begins investigating the fate of the Prado family.
Amadeu de Prado is a doctor during the Salazar Dictatorship (1928–1974). He has an expressed interest in literature and begins questioning his world, his experiences and the words contained in conversation and written thought. His life and thoughts are strongly influenced by living under an oppressive regime, relying heavily upon a brutal secret police force, the PIDE. Maria João Ávila, a girl he adores since childhood, seems to be the only person Amadeu can relate to. His father, a stern man and a judge loyal to the government, later crumbles under the pressure of his conscience and commits suicide. Amadeu, who is by now an accomplished and well-liked doctor, saves the life of Mendez, the "Butcher of Lisbon" and Chief of Secret Police. In the public eye, Amadeu's actions mark him down as a traitor, resulting in him being shunned and secretly joining the resistance to ease his conscience. After his premature death due to an aneurysm, Amadeu's notes and journal entries are edited and published by his sister Adriana. She owes her life to Amadeu and religiously devotes her energy to preserving her brother's legacy.
During his stay in Lisbon, Raimund meets the ophthalmologist Mariana Eça. She prescribes him new glasses when he breaks his old ones in an accident. Mariana's uncle, João Eça, was a member of the resistance. Raimund visits him several times to talk about Amadeu.
Raimund also manages to track down Jorge O'Kelly, a pharmacy owner and Amadeu's best friend who helped him join the resistance, and Estefânia Espinhosa, a woman with an exceptional memory. Amadeu was in love with her, even though she was Jorge's girlfriend at the time. She later fled the country and became a professor of history at the University of Salamanca.
The story ends with Raimund returning to Bern. Raimund, who has been suffering from spells of dizziness for a while now, submits himself to a physical exam.
Themes
Night Train to Lisbon spends considerable time contemplating ideas, exploring on one hand Gregorious' contemplation of self and the other de Prado's journal and philosophies. Epigraphs include Michel de Montaigne, Essais, Second Book, I, “De l'inconstance de nos actions” and Fernando Pessoa, Livro do Desassossego (Portuguese: Book of Disquiet/Restlessness).
Mercier uses various activities and subthemes to help explore these deep, self-reflective subjects including "night journeys, insomnia and dream-filled sleep, of being stuck in place yet somehow adrift, and confusion about life's purpose." With this introspective approach, Mercier is able to review concepts of "who we are, how we control our experience of life, and how fragile that construction is."
Style
Like the depiction of the city of Lisbon as mysterious and intricate, the text of Night Train to Lisbon is intricate and complicated, sometimes withholding information from the reader. Multiple reviewers also pointed to the thriller qualities the novel takes on despite the philosophical focus of the themes.
Critical reception
Anne Phillips in The News-Gazette noted that Night Train to Lisbon was "reminiscent of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind" and commented that "mystery romance and political intrigue" keep the pages turning. Robert Moyle of the Herald Sun also points out how engaging Night Train to Lisbon is, pointing out how easy it is for the reader to identify with Gregorius. Daniel Johnson of The Telegraph placed Mercier, with this novel, amongst the best European novelists alive.
Translations
Iranian writer Mahshid Mirmoezzi translated the book into Persian, with its release in April 2013. Iran does not recognize various international copyright accords, but Mirmoezzi received permission from the author before she translated it. She won the Parvin Award for her translation.
Film adaptation
Danish film director Bille August's film adaptation of the same name, with Jeremy Irons as Raimund Gregorius, was released in 2013.
Impact
During the Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan on 21 March 2014, the wall of the second floor of the Legislative Yuan was sprayed with a quote from the work, "when dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a duty."
See also
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- O crime do padre Amaro
