Quote by: Claudio Magris

To use the term 'clerk' as an insult is simply a banal vulgarity; Pessoa and Svevo, however would have welcomed it as a just attribute of the poet. The latter does not resemble Achilles or Diomedes, ranting on their war-chariots, but is more like Ulysses, who knows that he is no one. He manifests himself in this revelation of impersonality that conceals him in the prolixity of things, as travelling erases the traveller in the confused murmur of the street.


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Author Bio


  • NameClaudio Magris
  • DescriptionScholar, translator and writer
  • BornApril 10, 1939
  • CountryItaly
  • ProfessionLinguist; Journalist; Writer; Translator; Essayist; Politician
  • AwardsAustrian State Prize For European Literature; Erasmus Prize; Order Of Merit For Arts And Science; Peace Prize Of The German Book Trade; Prince Of Asturia Literary Prize; Vilenica Prize