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José Saramago and his best books that I recommend

Who could imagine that that boy who at the age of twelve had just begun to read in a rural environment with no more incentives than a shady fig tree to sleep under with his grandfather, would become one of the most important writers in history. José was born in the midst of extreme scarcity, but in moments of leisure, his grandfather, illiterate, told him stories “in a tireless murmur of memories”, stories that, in some way, carried him on wings years later to glory: the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

Before 1998, the young Saramago worked as a mechanic and later as a clerk in the Portuguese Social Security, where he was fired. This fact precipitated him into writing, his natural habitat, and he was blessed with a universal and imperishable work. Journalist and translator, eternally influenced by Pessoa’s poetry, also embraced politics, with convictions born of the Carnation Revolution (April 25, 1974). Saramago, who died in Lanzarote now 12 years ago, had come into the world in a village in the neighboring country, Azinhaga, on November 16, 1922. On the verge of completing this obligatory centenary, the eyes of literature rested on the great library that I left, testimony of a life of reflection and certainties. Also of deep knowledge of the human being and his weaknesses. To celebrate this century of Saramago, we recommend the best books among the best. And the album of his most personal and intimate photos.

Land of sin (1947).

This novel, the first of Saramago’s literary life, was, however, the last published by Alfaguara, his leading publisher, posthumously and in Spanish, under the name of La viuda. In it, the problems of religion and evil They are already the great motivations of the entire narrative and an eloquent image of the author’s ideas regarding the religious universe and society in general. A woman, Leonor, mother of two children, must take charge of the family estate when she is widowed. Her mourning hasn’t stopped, but neither has her desire.

Skylight (1953).

Jose's work

Work of Jos Saramago.

It is Nobody wanted to publish the book at first, which kept a disillusioned Saramago away from writing for many years. Alfaguara recovered it much later to the delight of his readers. On a morning in the mid-20th century, the novelist leans out of his neighborhood window. Discreetly, the novelist’s gaze descends until he ceases to be a simple witness to see through the eyes of each of the characters. Chapter by chapter, he jumps from house to house, from character to character, opening up a world governed by necessity, great frustrations, small illusions and the melancholy of other times.

Los poems posibles (Possible poems, 1966).

This is first of three poems where the poetic vein of the Lusitanian writer emerges, called to be recognized, above all, for his prose. With a simple language and a slightly lyrical style, his verses deal with themes such as love, the passage of time, dreams or the relationship between poetry and reality, but they also contain questions such as the need for hope and the importance of brotherhood between people. mens.

Trip to Portugal (1981).

A book that contains the true face of an inexhaustible land. It is the written reproduction of the many impressions collected by a sensitive traveler, attentive to what his gaze captures and what tries to understand the reality of his country and at the same time, unravel his past. A journey to get to know the neighboring and friendly country, but not suitable for tourists, unless they are faithful readers.

The memorial of the convent (1982):

This book covers some 30 years in the history of Portugal during the Inquisition. She delves into the historical fact and also into the popular life of the time. King D. Joao V needed heirs and, as Doa Mara Ana did not conceive them, he promised to build a convent in Mafra in exchange for having them. Considered one of Saramago’s best titles, it was later adapted into an operatic version.

The year of the death of Ricardo Reiss (1984).

At the end of 1935, when Fernando Pessoa, a fundamental figure for Saramago, had just passed away, an English ship arrived at the port of Lisbon, in which Ricardo Reis, one of the heternyms of the great Portuguese poet, had traveled from Brazil. Along the nine crucial months in the history of Europeduring which the war in Spain breaks out and the Italian intervention in Abyssinia takes place, we will attend the last stage of the life of Ricardo Reis, in dialogue with the spirit of Pessoa who comes to visit him from the cemetery.

The Stone Raft (1986).

Is fbula deals with one of Saramago’s favorite political issues, that of the unit of the Iberian Peninsula. His repercussion and influence in Spain were similar to what he had in Portugal, enormous.

History of the siege of Lisbon (1989).

The plot highlights the restless personality of the writer, his will to know and not to be convinced without arguments. It tells the story of Raimundo Silva, a proofreader in charge of correcting a book titled like the novel, who decides to insert a “no” in the text so that he affirms that the Crusaders did not help the Portuguese king in the take from Lisbon. From deception and scolding he goes on to receive the commission to write an alternative version of this historical event.

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991).

Worthy son of a father tireless in his search for the truth, this book presents a worldly view of the facts relating to Jesus: how he was born, his love for Mary Magdalene, what is the meaning of God’s existence… His appearance, linked to one of Saramago’s favorite subjects throughout his entire narrative, caused a great deal of dust in his country, of secular confession, when he saw the light. A state, that of intelligent controversy, that Saramago consciously fed throughout his life. As a result of this episode, Saramago decided to leave Portugal and settle in Lanzarote, his other homeland, with his second wife, Pilar del Ro.

Essay on blindness (1995).

It’s one of his soap operas best known and awarded. assumes a metaphor of a depersonalized and selfish society, where all the characters begin to go blind, but in which the disease is the last thing that matters. A critique of the social system, controlling and often inept, saved thanks to the ingenuity of its inhabitants, such as the doctor’s wife, the protagonist, the only one who does not lose her sight and accurately leads the herd. this title also had its version in cinema.

All the names (1997).

Don José, a guy with no last name, collects news about famous people. To complete them, he must commit some infractions at the Civil Registry, where he works. He is this character illustration of the humility, of authentic solitude, of the lack of material and affective goods and, above all, of the inalienable human dignity.

The Cave (2000).

This book recreates the platonic myth of the Republic seen from our days. Now the cave is not ignorance and lack of dreams or frustration. It is the global representation of the triumph of economic policy that can be seen in a giant shopping center that is overwhelming its surroundings as it grows and threatens to stop the inner search of being.

Saramago. Their Names (2022)

by Alejandro García Schnetzer and Ricardo Viel.

The Jos Saramago Foundation has recently published, together with Alfaguara, on the occasion of its centenary, this photo album. It houses all the profiles and gestures of the Nobel and contains ms of 200 keys to understand the genius. The voice that guides the pages is that of Saramago himself, who shows places, people, readings and characters that made him what he continues to be today: a unique and immortal writer.

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