Pessoa had dozens of these alter egos, which he would eventually call “heteronyms.” He gave them birthdates and biographies, cast their horoscopes, practiced their signatures, and brought them along ...

THE art of biography, we say — but at once go on to ask, Is biography an art? The question is foolish perhaps, and ungenerous certainly, considering the keen pleasure that biographers have given us.

"There's nothing calculated about the man," says the author.