Synopses & Reviews
“Saramago is the most tender of writers . . . with a clear-eyed and compassionate acknowledgment of things as they are and a quality that can only be termed wisdom. We should be grateful when it is handed to us in such generous measures.” —New York Times Book Review
José Saramago delivers a profound parable of loss and disorientation in Blindness. When a city is overcome by an epidemic of “white blindness,” only one woman is spared. She becomes a guide for a group of seven strangers and serves as the eyes and ears for the reader in this powerful portrayal of man’s worst appetites and weaknesses—and man’s ultimately exhilarating spirit. Seeing returns readers to the city—amidst a national election years later—in a satirical commentary on government in general and democracy in particular.
José Saramago (1922–2010) was the author of numerous novels, including All the Names, The Cave, and The Elephant’s Journey. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Synopsis
In Blindness, a city is overcome by an epidemic of blindness that spares only one woman. She becomes a guide for a group of seven strangers and serves as the eyes and ears for the reader in this profound parable of loss and disorientation. We return to the city years later in Saramagos Seeing, a satirical commentary on government in general and democracy in particular. Together here for the first time, this beautiful edition will be a welcome addition to the library of any Saramago fan.
Synopsis
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature
About the Author
JOSÉ SARAMAGO (1922–2010) was the author of many novels, among them Blindness, All the Names, Baltasar and Blimunda, and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
MARGARET JULL COSTA has established herself as the premier translator of Portuguese literature into English today.