Pessoa Plural Publishes Special Dossier on The Duke of Parma
Pessoa Plural no. 29 features a special dossier dedicated to Fernando Pessoa’s unfinished English-language tragedy The Duke of Parma, one of the largest and least explored works preserved in the author’s literary estate.
The dossier presents the outcomes of the international research project “Fernando Pessoa’s Duke of Parma: an unpublished Shakespearean tragedy”, coordinated by the University of Parma and developed through collaboration between scholars and institutions in Portugal, Colombia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Finland. The project focused on the transcription, study, and digital encoding of approximately 180 manuscript documents preserved at the National Library of Portugal, shedding new light on a work that Pessoa developed over nearly three decades.
Originating from the international conference “Unveiling The Duke of Parma”, held at the University of Parma in February 2026, the special issue brings together contributions from philologists, literary scholars, and digital humanists. It also accompanies the launch of a digital archive containing diplomatic and TEI-encoded transcriptions of the entire manuscript corpus, making this previously inaccessible material available to the scholarly community.
The dossier opens with Jerónimo Pizarro and Nicolás Barbosa’s article, “The road to madness nowhere: transcription and hypothesis in The Duke of Parma”, which examines the editorial challenges posed by Pessoa’s difficult handwriting, fragmented manuscripts, and multiple textual layers. Their contribution is followed by Carlos Pittella’s response, “'This was a dream of Parma': towards a mad method for transcribing Pessoa”, which reflects on the responsibilities of editors and advocates for approaches that preserve the complexity of Pessoa’s writing process.
A second philological contribution, João Dionísio and Maria Sousa’s “The organization of the document witnesses of The Duke of Parma”, investigates the structure and organization of the surviving manuscripts, addressing the challenges of representing textual variability and revision. In response, Sakari Katajamäki, in his "A bird’s-eye view of organising: further reflections", situates these issues within the broader framework of genetic criticism, emphasizing manuscripts as dynamic records of literary creation.
The digital dimension of the project is explored in Elena Lombardo’s “Modelling the unfinished and fragmentary: the digital archive of the tragedy”, which discusses the encoding of revisions, variants, and complex manuscript features within the XML-TEI framework. Elli Bleeker’s commentary - "Ongoing reflections on ongoing work: a discussant response to Lombardo’s 'Modelling'” - further reflects on the theoretical implications of digital encoding and the interpretative nature of editorial modelling.
The dossier then turns to textual genesis with Carlotta Defenu’s “The Duke of Parma, by Fernando Pessoa: genesis and critical examination”, a study of the play’s compositional development through the analysis of authorial variants and documentary evidence. Manuel Portela’s response - "Intellillegibility in The Duke of Parma: is there a text in this text?" - expands this discussion by considering how digital editions can represent and make visible the dynamics of writing and revision.
Moving from editorial questions to literary interpretation, Enrico Martines’ article, “Sexuality and misogyny in Fernando Pessoa: The Duke of Parma’s contribution to the topic”, examines the representation of gender, sexuality, and misogynistic discourse in the tragedy and its place within Pessoa’s broader intellectual universe. Mark Sabine’s commentary - "'A skirt between us and our thoughts': reflections on Enrico Martines’s contribution" - situates these themes within current debates on gender, embodiment, and subjectivity in Pessoa’s work.
The literary dimension is further explored in Diego Saglia’s essay, “‘These wild shows': Shakespearean wit in The Duke of Parma”, which analyses the play’s engagement with Shakespearean rhetoric and early modern forms of wit. Responding to this contribution, Alessandra Petrina's "The heteronymous reader" highlights how Pessoa’s appropriation of Shakespearean models generates new forms of literary and cultural dialogue.
The dossier concludes with Simone Celani’s “A future digital edition model for The Duke of Parma”, which outlines methodological perspectives for a future critical digital edition capable of representing the work’s fragmentary and non-linear nature. In her response ("Digital archive vs. Digital edition"), Paola Italia reflects on the relationship between digital innovation and philological tradition, stressing the importance of maintaining a close connection to the materiality of the manuscripts.
Taken together, the contributions collected in this special issue demonstrate the richness of The Duke of Parma as a case study for contemporary textual scholarship. By combining philology, genetic criticism, digital humanities, and literary analysis, the dossier opens new perspectives on one of Pessoa’s most ambitious and enigmatic dramatic projects and lays the foundations for future editorial and interpretative work.
