
During the years leading up to WWII, the basic freedom we know as “freedom of expression” was prohibited in many parts of the world. In the case of Pereira Declares, a novel written by Antonio Tabucchi, the act of censorship by governments on their people was a major factor in the development of the plot. By analysing Pereira Declares and data that relates to censorship, it can seen that Antonio Tabucchi was commenting on censorship in the late 1930’s.

During the time around 1938, the year in which the novel takes place, Portugal was under a dictatorship known as the Estado Novo. Although the government was democratically elected, in reality the system was heavily rigged so that the official party would win almost every election by a landslide. One of the ways that the political regime would ensure that they won the elections was through censorship. In 1927 decree 22 469 was passed which established censorship for newspapers and other forms of press when writing on political and social issues. This made spreading information and ideas difficult. An example of how censorship affected Portugal during this time can be found in Pereira Declares when Dr. Cardoso asks Pereira “forgive me for asking but exactly what is an independent newspaper these days in Portugal? A newspaper not connected with any political movement, replied Pereira” (Tabucchi).  Dr. Cardoso continues to further this point when he exclaims “every day, before your paper appears, the proofs are examined by the censors, and if there’s something they don’t like don’t you worry it won’t be printed, they leave blank spaces” (Tabucchi). This is one of the main comments that Tabucchi makes throughout the novel. The acts of the government and censorship are the driving factor for the plot of the novel.

Next, Pereira Declares  talks about how political opinion is affected by government censorship. This is one of the most destructive effects that censorship has on groups of people. Public opinion or the thoughts of a large group of people on a matter that is related to them can be affected in many ways, but the most effective way to affect public opinion is to control mass media. Mass media includes: television, movies, radio, advertisements, magazines, and in the case of Pereira Declares, newspaper. As newspaper was the most common way of releasing news and ideas during the late 1930’s, censoring it had major effects on the news and opinions that writers released to the public. As John Sturrock of Oxford University puts it “The effects of this censorship were enormous. Some writer, in order to get their words published, practised a kind of self-censorship, but others were able to publish only after 1974” (Sturrock). This self-censorship caused writers to hold back the truth about events or thoughts that they may of had on a certain topic, especially those that contradict the ideology of the political regime. Kyaw Thu, wrote in a report titled The Impact of Censorship on the Development of the Private Press Industry in Myanmar/Burma “Censorship certainly does have an impact on the quality and scope of reporting. Journalists are always going to be reluctant to chase and report on topics that they know are likely to be censored” (Thu). 

As the plot of the novel progresses we see Pereira get more and more interested in the government and how they are censoring the press. At first he stayed out of questioning these things, but upon meeting Rossi, Pereira became more and more interested. At the end of the novel he decides to work around the censor to publish a highly controversial piece. In reality this happens with writers that are censored. Being prohibited from talking about certain topics made him want to talk about them more and more. It’s similar to how when a child is told not to touch a hot stove he or she just wants to touch it more. Margaret Roberts did an in depth analysis of how censorship has affected China and she said “Whereas a protest may be uninteresting without government censorship, efforts by the government to censor the information might cause an increased spike in interest about the protest event” (Roberts 6). What was said before makes sense. As they say the more you are told not to do something, the more you want to do it and we see this with Pereira at the end of the novel when he tells the printer that Dr. Cardoso is a censor and that the article received clearance.

Antonio Tabucchi’s novel Pereira Declares makes major comments on how censorship affects the press and public opinion. The context of censorship in the novel can easily be related to how it took place in Portugal during the time leading up to WWII. By analyzing data on censorship in the past and in today’s world we can see how Tabucchi comments on the past in his novel Pereira Declares.
