ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Antonio Tabucchi's relationship with Fernando Pessoa, briefly surveying the texts in which interplay with Pessoa's ideas is central, examining Tabucchi's fiction and non-fiction. It outlines the critical responses to Tabucchi's use of Pessoa, focusing on the point at which scholars suggest Tabucchi moves away from Pessoa's influence. The chapter offers own reading of the point at which Tabucchi appears to repay his legacy to Pessoa and to move away from the Portuguese poet's influence. It explores why the notion of a direct legacy from Pessoa to Tabucchi is problematized by Tabucchi's Italian cultural heritage, in which the figure of Pirandello looms large. Requiem may be seen as representing the first stage of Tabucchi repaying his legacy to Pessoa, his own role in opening up Pessoa's work to a wider readership, beginning the important process signalled by Francese, Sheehan and Botta of artistically disengaging from Pessoa's influence.
