Fate, death and religion

Abstract

A couple of years ago a novel appeared in the literary market that has become the most representative of its author Antonio Tabucchi. I am referring to Sostiene Pereira, also brought to the screen under the direction of Faenza and with the star of Marcelo Mastroiani. The oppressive Salazarist dictatorship in Portugal, the Spanish civil war and Italian fascism are the backdrop for Pereira, a journalist dedicated to the cultural section of a mediocre right-wing newspaper called Lisbon, to become a true example for those of us who still believe in the freedom of all men and reject oppression and absolutism. Pereira is an extremely obese individual bound to the memory of his late wife, the only one to whom he entrusts his great concerns and whose presence is only a photograph. Possibly Pereira's strongest restlessness is death. Pereira, a good Catholic, fails to believe in the resurrection of the flesh. In the soul yes, of course, for he was sure to possess a soul; but all that flesh that surrounds the soul, all that tallow that accompanied him every day, sweat, gasping as he climbed the stairs, why would they be reborn?