10.8.08

o violento conflito da onomástica

However, when I first had a poem published in a magazine called 'Poetry London' my parents were quite pleased. I published the poem with my name spelt 'Pinta', as one of my aunts was convinced that we came from a distinguished Portugueses family, the Da Pintas.

This has never been confirmed, nor do I know whether such a family existed. The whole thing seemed to be in violent conflict with my understanding that all four of my grandparents came from Odessa, or at least Hungary or perhaps even Poland.

There was tentative speculation that 'Pinta' became 'Pinter' in the course of flight from Spanish Inquisition but whether they had a Spanish Inquisition in Portugal no one quite seemed to know, at least in Hackney, where we lived.

**

Harold Pinter, no discurso de agradecimento pelo David Cohen British Literature Prize, em 1995, naquele que é um continuado, improvável e subliminar acto de comédia de um "enigmático" e "taciturno" dramaturgo. Dos Da Pintas, nunca ouvi falar.