José Saramago: Biography Of The Writer Who Told Us About Social Blindness
José Saramago was the most notable voice in Portuguese letters. The excellence of his writing allowed him to achieve the Nobel Prize, however, something that always characterized him was his facet as a committed man. Thus, works such as Essay on Blindness stand as an exceptional vehicle for catharsis and philosophical reflection, a legacy that simply invites us to “wake up”.
Saramago is often said to have been an agitator of consciences. He never stopped denouncing injustices and positioning himself in the face of any conflict of his time. Hence, in one of his lectures, he defined himself as that passionate writer, someone with the need to lift every stone, even knowing that real monsters could hide underneath.
That search for truth and that effort to awaken minds, allowed him to shape a unique literary style. He made use of parables supported by imagination, irony and compassion to draw us a reality to which no one can remain indifferent.
After the death of José Saramago, his work continues to be republished in different languages. The new generations continue to discover his voice and admire that multifaceted personality, which even aspired to complete the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with its Charter of Duties and Obligations.
He was the most distinguished writer that Portugal has offered us along with other authors such as Fernando Pessoa. He was the author of a provocative, magical and disturbing work that invited us to analyze the present through his eyes.
Biography of a scholar with humble roots
José de Sousa Saramago was born on November 16, 1922 in Golegã, Portugal. His parents were José de Sousa and María da Piedade, a couple with humble roots who made a living from their work on the land. When little José was two years old, they decided to emigrate to Lisbon in search of an economic improvement.
Established in the Portuguese capital they enjoyed a certain stability. His father started working as a policeman and he had the opportunity to pursue basic studies. He entered an industrial school for a few years until his parents could no longer afford him more advanced training.
Thus, he had no choice but to start working in a mechanical smithy. Now, beyond that professional activity with which to earn a living, José Saramago led another life: that of a scholar. He did not stop reading, learning on his own and especially writing. Thus, at the age of 25, he publishes Terra do Pecado (Land of Sin). In that year, 1947, his daughter, Violante, was also born, the fruit of his first marriage.
The maturing of a committed writer and journalist
From 1955 José Saramago began to translate the works of Hegel and Tolstoi into Portuguese. At the same time, he strives to mature his style adequately so that he has any chance of success with his writing. Now, despite his talent, no editor dares to put his work out on the market.
After the rejection of his work Clarabóia (Skylight) José Saramago took several years to try again. In fact, it was not until 1966 that he tried again with Provavelmente alegria and later with El año de 1993. Both achieved recognition from publishers, so he began to collaborate with the Portuguese publisher Estúdios Cor .
Upon his literary success, José Saramago felt the need to embark on journalism. He began to work in the “Diario de Noticias” and, later, in the “Diario de Lisboa”, becoming deputy director and political commentator.
However, after the arrival of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, on April 25, 1974, he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to writing. He was a recognized and respected figure, and he longed to give the world more jobs, more books. In 1976, he published Los apuntes, plays such as A noite (La noche, 1979) and short stories such as Almost an Object .
The Nobel Prize
In the 80s, José Saramago is a world-renowned author. He achieved literary consecration with the Convent Memorial . Later, they would arrive La balsa de Piedra ( 1986) , the controversial Gospel according to Jesus Christ (1991) and above all, Essay on blindness, (1995).
His writing is more refined, his books more committed, with which, in 1998, the Stockholm Committee (Sweden) awarded him the highest recognition: the Nobel Prize for Literature. At that time, he already lived between two lands, Lisbon and Lanzarote (Canary Islands). In the latter he shared his life with his last wife, María del Pilar del Río Sánchez, a Spanish journalist and translator.
José Saramago died on June 18, 2010 due to leukemia. He was 87 years old and had started a new novel, of which he left a 30-page beginning.
Essay on Blindness
They are not blind, “they are blind.” With these words, José Saramago shapes one of the most disturbing argumentative metaphors in his work. In Essay on Blindness, he talks about the inability of the human being to recognize others. It turns us suddenly, into infamous beings, into creatures that need the guidance of others to understand and survive.
This work is a deep reflection on the human soul. It is a dystopian novel, before which, nobody is indifferent, when discovering how the human being has been suspended in a kind of white blindness that spreads like an infection. The government then decides to quarantine the sick by subjecting them to harsh regulations.
Of that group of people who star in the story, only one can see: a woman who decides to accompany her husband in that confinement being, in turn, the eyes and that helpful look that tries to help the rest. However, the whole scene is oppressive. There is no hygiene, the soldiers do not hesitate to shoot when someone gets too close and decomposition begins to take over the place. Everything suddenly acquires the tinge of a true dictatorship. Chaos reigns and hope is slowly consuming.
We are, therefore, before a work in which we are shown, above all, the blindness of the human soul. That inability to recognize each other that evokes selfishness, loss of reason, conflict and fear. A setting where José Saramago invites us to a courageous moral reflection.
Essay on Blindness is undoubtedly an impressive book, which stands as one of the great works of contemporary literature, to which it is always worth returning (or discovering for the first time).
