Jose Saramago R.I.P

Age 87

he had a good run

RIP

noooo. i mean. yeah, he was pretty old, did a lot. but still. nooo.

Gospel According to Jesus Christ is the only one of his books that totally impressed me, but he did so much for the cause of surpassingly strange literature. RIP.

One of the Few last classics in prose

All of the man's works I mean

You were never more beautiful, said the wife of the first blind man. Words are like that, they deceive, they pile up, it seems they do not know where to go, and, suddenly, because of two or three or four that suddenly come out, simple in themselves, a personal pronoun, an adverb, a verb, an adjective, we have the excitement of seeing them coming irresistibly to the surface through the skin and the eyes and upsetting the composure of our feelings, sometimes the nerves that cannot bear it any longer, they put up with a great deal, they put up with everything, it was as if they were wearing armour, we might say. The doctor's wife has nerves of steel, and yet the doctor's wife is reduced to tears because of a personal pronoun, an adverb, a verb, an adjective, mere grammatical categories, mere labels, just like the two women, the others, indefinite pronouns, they too are crying, they embrace the woman of the whole sentence, three graces beneath the falling rain.

Is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis as good as it sounds?

Yeah, I love that book. I made a movie inspired by it!

RIP

aw. i'm in the middle of all the names right now, enjoying it a lot. he's so distinctive. has anyone read the earlier non-novel writing? i wasn't ever quite sure what those were, though they were the ones that made his name.

woah

RIP

"Is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis as good as it sounds?"

his best work imo, also his most difficult

RIP :(

It helps if you've read some Pessoa before reading Year of the Death.

Read and love Pessoa - which is why I'm quite interested in that particular book.

Just heard about this a minute ago on the news. I've only read Death with Interruptions, but I really liked it. I'll have to pick up Blindness soon.

RIP

then definitely read that shit xyzzzz

Sure I'll get a copy and report back on ILB sometime. Thx everyone.

The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis has proven his strangest and most beautiful book. I don't want it to end. One of my favorite flâneur fictions.

I loved it. "All the Names" is also wonderful.

Highly recommend the documentary José & Pilar. Great portrayal of the drudgery of literary events, and Saramago is cranky a f. At one point they're sorting out letters and there's an invitation from the Dalai Lama, Saramago goes "I can't stand the Dalai Lama".

Didnt know about the doc! Looks like its on youtube, will check it out this week

It's really quite moving, and Pilar del Rio is a badass.

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ: extraordinary. Bitingly satirical but brimming with humanity. The Jesus in this book might only bear a passing resemblance to the one in the other gospels but it's a convincing portrait of someone who has divinity thrust upon them; the power hungry God drunk with blood certainly chimes with the one in the old testament. Very good on the subjugation of women too.

My first Saramago. Agree.