It is worth noting too that the word “maintains” appears several times in the book for Pereira to convince himself, to never waver, to stay firm opposite the self-transformation laving its pages. It mirrors people’s tendency (perhaps, it’s my cynicism) to remain a bystander amidst their worsening surroundings if they knew to be uninvolved will save them from harm, even at the cost of losing their individuality and humanity. But this novel is not only about courage, no, it’s not even entirely about a search for purpose, I wouldn’t say so. Previously fascinated by the thought of death, bereft and without purpose nor anchor other than his work, once he is pulled into a movement where he realises he can make a difference, where he is urged by his wife’s memories to be with people, to return to himself, mortality becomes a secondary thought, bereavement wields a strength.

Soon, he finds himself amidst the furore of outward resistance through Rossi and his comrades, where Pereira’s convictions slowly transform into his own definition of resistance. Pereira, agitated and worried, rejects these articles but nonetheless proceeds to keep them. Not before long, and in need of an assistant, Pereira hires Monteiro Rossi, a young man of a radical disposition, who, instead of adhering to government regulations, persistently sends in articles reflecting his leftist political views. In vain, he tries to separate literature from politics. He firmly holds onto apolitical sentiments, preferring instead the comfort of literature and its translation as he heads the Culture segment of a small, independent magazine. Through the protagonist Pereira-a middle-aged journalist stricken by grief from his wife’s death-his avoidant attitude is ever-resonant: this unspoken choice of indifference, this compliance by turning a blind eye to oppression, censorship, as long as one is not directly affected by them. In mere hundred pages, and newspaper and magazine articles relayed between characters, Tabucchi’s Pereira Maintains encapsulates the uncertainties and dangers of the era as the threat of the Second World War also brews far up the horizons. With the rise of extreme right-wing European populism during the 1930s, Portugal sees itself under the corporatist regime of Salazar, staying neutral on the surface as the Spanish civil war wages while aiding Franco’s National Army furtively behind doors. 'Silva, we’re not in Europe, we're in Portugal.'

Sostiene pereira book