José Saramago was a Portuguese writer awarded with the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. Throughout his 87 years of life he wrote several novels, such as The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, Blindness, The Elephant's Journey and Baltasar & Blimunda, the last one being the one I will write about today. In addition to writing, Saramago was also a member of the Portuguese communist party. He passed away on June 18th 2010, in Spain.
You're probably questioning yourself how I found out about this writer. And why I decided to read one of his books. Well, one thing you may not know is that I'm Portuguese. And as a citizen of Portugal, and a 12th grade student (equivalent to the senior year in high school), I have to read this book for school.
Baltasar & Blimunda (original title: Memorial do Convento) is a love story set in the 18th century, during the construction of the Convent of Mafra, as payment for a promise made by the king D. João the 5th of Portugal to ensure succession. Baltasar and Blimunda are a couple, he has returned from war without his left hand, she has eyes that can see everything. In the course of action other characters arise, such as the priest Bartolomeu Lourenço, a pioneer in the history of aviation; and the harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti (these two characters have in fact existed, and did serve the Portuguese royal family in the 18th century).
The entire narrative is marked by much symbolism, from the characters' appellations up to the convent itself. Saramago's writing has also accentuated the uniqueness of this novel, by the lack of typical characteristics of the direct speech, such as punctuation, and by his wonderfully ironic and blasphemous prose.
The reading of this book requires the utmost attention due to the extreme precision with which it was written. It is suitable for those who like historical novels, and want to learn a little about Portuguese history, in particular at the beginning of the 18th century.
I will leave some links in this post where you can find a little bit more about José Saramago, and also where you can acquire this book - which has been translated into 20 languages, so if you're not accustomed to read in English, don't worry, it is likely that there is an edition in your language.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and that in some way I have encouraged you to read this novel, or any other novel from Saramago. Tell me in the comments bellow what you think about this book or this author. I will see you guys very soon with another book! xx.
Photo Credits: Wikipedia
Where to get the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Baltasar-Blimunda-Jose-Saramago/dp/0156005204 (The book front I display and the one Amazon displays may be different, but don't worry it's the same book).
José Saramago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago
No comments:
Post a Comment