José Saramago

José Saramago (born November 16, 1922) is a Portuguese writer, playwright, and journalist. He usually presents subversive perspectives of historical events in his works, trying to underline the human factor behind historical events, instead of presenting the usual official historical narratives. Some works of his can also be seen as allegories in several contexts.

Related Topics:
November 16 - 1922 - Portuguese - Writer - Playwright - Journalist

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He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998. He currently lives on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, Spain. Saramago has been a member of the Portuguese Communist Party since 1969, as well as an atheist and self-described pessimist - his positions have aroused considerable controversy in Portugal, especially after the publication of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. José Saramago?s novels often deal with fantastic scenarios and situations such as the one his 1986 novel, The Stone Raft, where the Iberian Peninsula breaks from the rest of Europe and begins sailing around the Atlantic. Or his 1995 novel, Blindness, where an entire unnamed country is stricken with a mysterious plague, or ?white blindess?. Or in Saramago's 1984 Novel, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, where Fernando Pessoa?s heteronym survives for a year after the poet himself dies.

Related Topics:
Nobel Prize for literature - 1998 - Lanzarote - Canary Islands - Spain - Portuguese Communist Party - 1969 - Atheist - The Stone Raft - Heteronym

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With these highly imaginative themes, Saramago succinctly deals with the most serious of subject matter with boundless wit and keen insight. He sprinkles many quirky segues and asides into his sparsely punctuated, but richly decorated narrative thread. His main flaw, as writer, is predictability. One may assume for granted that in all his novels class struggle is the key for unraveling human conflict. Such a unilateral anthropology gives no room for psychological tension in his characters. They are not so much individuals as representatives of classes and values. His greatest asset as an author is his empathy of the human condition and the isolative nature of contemporary urban life. His characters struggle with their need to connect with one another, form relationships, bond as a community, and their need for individuality, to find meaning and dignity outside of political/economic structures.

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