
Pereira Declares is set in Lisbon, Portugal in 1938; a time when fascism was prevalent throughout Europe.  In this political environment, nationalism superseded personal freedom; the individual was secondary to the state.  Fascist governments required citizens to sacrifice their civil liberties for what they believed was the good of the community.  Censorship was used by government officials to control public opinion and limit liberal ideas and ideals.  It was a difficult time to be a writer for a newspaper since there was no freedom of the press.  In fact, there was very little freedom of any kind.

 Pereira, the main character in Pereira Declares, lives in Lisbon and recently was hired as an editor for the Lisboa, a small time local newspaper.  Pereira is presented by Tabucchi as a weak figure, working in an unimportant job, thinking constantly about death and his deceased wife and concerned about his own health.  Tabucchi uses the character of Pereira and these themes to illustrate the pressures that fascism and repression apply to the powerless in society.

Pereira’s job involves writing and editing weekly articles for the culture page of the newspaper.  There is much irony in Tabucchi using the culture section of the newspaper, since the “culture” of the community in a fascist state is stifled.  Additionally, the Lisboa is positioned as a second-rate newspaper.  When Pereira mentions that “…the Lisboa was an evening newspaper, and therefore not in the same league as the other newspapers of the capital…” (Pereira 3), it seems that he might be blaming his lousy job on the organization, just as he might blame the government for the general difficulties in his life.  However, he thinks that this could improve, because “…he was sure it would sooner or later make its mark…” (Pereira 3).  Throughout the story, Pereira often tries to balance his negative situation with some positive and optimistic perspective such as this.  However, this is foolhardy, since Pereira is in an impossible situation.  He supports liberal thinking and is a writer for a newspaper at a time when people, particularly reporters are prohibited from expressing their true feelings and observations.

The idea of death is constant for Pereira.  Tabucchi weaves this concept throughout the novel.  Pereira struggles with the idea of resurrection after death.  He believes the soul is resurrected after death, but not the body.  In this way, Pereira seems to be describing his desire to remove himself from his undesirable existence.  His body “…with all that bulk of his flesh weighing him down…” (Pereira 2) could represent the suffocating environment in which he finds himself in fascist Portugal.  He wishes he was free and fixates on his soul as if this is the part of himself that ultimately will allow him to become free.  He states: “All the blubber he carted around with him day in day out, and the sweat, and the struggle of climbing the stairs, why should all that rise again?” (Pereira 2).  It seems that Pereira would be fine leaving his body (and fascism), while allowing his soul to be reincarnated (for freedom).

The constant and uncomfortable pressure of fascism and its impact on Pereira also is represented through his reaction to the summer weather in Portugal.  Pereira never seems to feel physically comfortable.  He describes himself as “...one man sweating with the heat and discomfort in that squalid cubbyhole…” (Pereira 4) and weather seems to impact his attitude and behavior in several settings.  He eats inside the restaurant because “…outside under the awning it was like an oven.” (Pereira 25).  Tabucchi even uses the word “weather” to describe difficulties for Pereira even if it does not involve the temperature.  When Pereira is walking home, “He made heavy weather of it up the steep ramp to where he lived.” (Tabucchi 7).

While Pereira is preparing for his first weekly culture page at the Lisboa, he reads a magazine article by a young writer named Montiero Rossi that directly addresses Pereira’s fascination with death.  Rossi wrote “The relationship that most profoundly and universally characterizes our sense of being is that of life with death, because the limits imposed on our existence by death are crucial to the understanding and evaluation of life.” (Rossi 2-3).  This comment attracts Pereira’s attention and causes him to seek out Rossi to see if he shares the same beliefs regarding reincarnation and the soul.  Although he discovers that this is not the case, Pereira still agrees to meet with Rossi.  When they get together, Rossi admits that he plagiarized from other writers to create his article in the magazine that attracted Pereira.  Despite this, Pereira continues to interact with Rossi quite possibly because Rossi reminds him of himself when he was young and makes him think about the son that Pereira and his dead wife never had.  Ultimately Pereira agrees to have Rossi help him with writing projects at the Lisboa.  Pereira’s relationship with Rossi suggests that Pereira might be looking for something else in his life.  Is he trying to find his youth through the younger man?  Does he see freedom in the casual way that Rossi lives his life?  These questions are not answered directly, but are very possible interpretations, given Pereira’s lonely and repressed life.

Tabucchi applies an interesting style of writing in this novel that starts even before the story begins.  The title, Pereira Declares, introduces Tabucchi’s go-to word “declares.”  This word is used forty times in chapters three through six alone. Although the phrase rarely is necessary for Tabucchi to tell Pereira’s story, it is used repeatedly to emphasize to the reader that this is how Pereira views a fact or situation.  Since he “declares” these things, they must be true.  Given Pereira’s somewhat sad life, Tabucchi allows Pereira to have some control of his situation by making declarations about things in his life that will not get him in trouble with the authorities.  Tabucchi offers Pereira these small victories.

 