José Saramago R.I.P ( 1922-2010 )

 

Today, June 18, 2010 at the age of 87 and close to his wife Pilar Del Rio, Jose Saramago, nobel Laureate of Literature 1998, died in the island of Lanzarote, the Canary Island in Spain. 

Saramago's work is no lees than brilliant, with his incredible imagination and prose was able to create worlds that are common to understand and believe, but as well magical;  like in " Ensayo Sobre la Ceguera" (Blindness) 1995 which narrates this weird Blindness contagious disease - everyone gets blind-  and amazingly since there is no way to differentiate the people ( except from their voice ) there are no given-names in this history just attributes becomes their "Tags" like : The Doctor's WIfe, The Blind Kid, The Blind Young Girl and so on,  focusing in the Doctor's Wife ( the only one immune to this disease of blindness) and the only hope for a group of blind people, she must endure a lot of task that put her in the role of savior-mother and the only one that can see how disastrous things can be in a world with no eyes.

In "El hombre Duplicado" ( The Double) 2003, Saramago shows that two identical mans - with no blood relation whatsoever-  are willing to change their life , a cautionary tale that ask you to be happy with your self as the way you are. with a no less than a tragic and crazy end. 

And many other books, the last one "Cain" 2009, create some controversy in Portugal and Spain when Saramago was criticized by a Catholic Church Official saying that some comments of the writer where offensive to the bible, on the book launch, the writer said that the Bible is ''a catalog of cruelty and of what's worst in human nature.''

No further opinion on that comment, none the less, Saramago was a Prolific writer, a unique painter with words that created worlds that were a reflection of our selves, the contradiction of good and evil, sadness and joy, God - Godless and pagan, common man and Jesus, a dark humor. He was able to reflect the nature of the Human Being and portrait in all it's glory. 

Farewell Saramago......!!!!!!! 

Le roi est mort ....Vive le roi ! 

Bibliography

Title	Year	English title	Year	ISBN
Terra do Pecado	1947
Os Poemas Possíveis	1966
Provavelmente Alegria	1970
Deste Mundo e do Outro	1971
A Bagagem do Viajante	1973
As Opiniões que o DL teve	1974
O Ano de 1993	1975	The Year of 1993
Os Apontamentos	1976
Manual de Pintura e Caligrafia	1977	Manual of Painting and Calligraphy	1993	ISBN 1857540433
Objecto Quase	1978
Levantado do Chão	1980
Viagem a Portugal	1981	Journey to Portugal	2000	ISBN 0151005877
Memorial do Convento	1982	Baltasar and Blimunda	1987	ISBN 0151105553
O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis	1986	The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis	1991	ISBN 0151997357
A Jangada de Pedra	1986	The Stone Raft	1994	ISBN 0151851980
História do Cerco de Lisboa	1989	The History of the Siege of Lisbon	1996	ISBN 015100238X
O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo	1991	The Gospel According to Jesus Christ	1993	ISBN 0151367000
Ensaio sobre a Cegueira	1995	Blindness	1997	ISBN 0151002517
Todos os Nomes	1997	All the Names	1999	ISBN 0151004218
O Conto da Ilha Desconhecida	1997	The Tale of the Unknown Island	1999	ISBN 0151005958
A Caverna	2001	The Cave	2002	ISBN 0151004145
O Homem Duplicado	2003	The Double	2004	ISBN 0151010404
Ensaio sobre a Lucidez	2004	Seeing	2006	ISBN 0151012385
Don Giovanni ou o Dissoluto Absolvido	2005
As Intermitências da Morte	2005	Death with Interruptions	2008	ISBN 1846550203
As Pequenas Memórias	2006	Memories of my Youth
A Viagem do Elefante	2008	The Trip of the Elephant		ISBN 9789722120173
Caim	2009	Cain

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