One hundred years after his birth, the work of the Portuguese Nobel Jose Saramago She is still “alive” and is “necessary”, says her widow, the Spanish writer and journalist pillar of the riverwho affirms that some of his books seem like a portrait of contemporary events such as the pandemic or war.
In an interview with efe On the eve of the author’s centenary (this November 16), Del Río has no doubts: “There are works by José Saramago that seem to be portraying this moment”, because, “after all, he is a totally contemporary writer”.
Today at Home @MuseoJSaramago #saramago100 pic.twitter.com/WXCngv5cXL
— HOME JOSÉ SARAMAGO (@MuseoJSaramago) November 16, 2022
Saramago was born in Azinhaga, Portugal, and went down in history as the only Portuguese Nobel Prize winner for Literature to date, with works such as convent memorial (1982), The Gospel according to Jesus Christ (1991), The year of the death of Ricardo Reis (1984) or Essay on blindness (nineteen ninety five).
It could be said of the latter, says his widow, that “it is brutally reflecting the pandemic” of the coronavirus, despite the fact that it occurred 25 years after the novel was published: “José Saramago said: ‘We seem blind who, seeing, we can not see'”.
But it is not the only current event for which lessons can be drawn from the words that the Portuguese author wrote decades ago, who died in 2010. Saramago also spoke of the war.
“In Halberds -the novel he was working on when he died, of which three chapters were published in 2014- said: ‘If there is a weapons factory, there will be a conflict factory. So don’t worry, there will be conflicts because you have to consume a lot of weapons’”, says Del Río.
For this reason, Saramago’s work “is not only current, as he would say, but necessary”.
“Publishing companies shouldn’t be too stupid when they continue to republish, they continue to study in schools, they continue to read complete works,” sums up the Spanish journalist, who lived with him the last decades of his life.
But how do today’s teenagers approach reading a Nobel work?
“What I would have to tell them is ‘don’t be afraid.’ José, the writers, do not bite. Photographers don’t bite either. Art does not bite”, defends Del Río, who assures that the students “already know that intelligence is used to move in life”.
Saramago is also still very much alive in bookstores and complete editions of his works, with his own design, have just been published in many countries. In Portugal an illustrated edition of The elephant’s journey.
“It is a beautiful and fortunately alive work”, sums up the translator, who considers that a single message cannot be extracted from the legacy she left behind. “I dare not answer you, because each reader has his own idea of it, he has his own author. Every reader has his work,” she says.
Rodolfo Alpízar: “Translating José Saramago I feel very comfortable”
The legacy left by the Portuguese author is also reflected in initiatives such as the José Saramago Literary Award, a tribute that recognizes young writers -up to 40 years old- in the Portuguese language.
The last award was presented this Monday to the Brazilian Rafael Gallo for ghost dor (phantom pain) in the Great Auditorium of the Belém Cultural Center, the same room where Portugal received and honored Saramago in 1998 for his Nobel Prize in Literature.
Pilar del Río, present at the ceremony, highlights the importance of this type of recognition for new authors.
“They are building their life and they are building us readers. It is mutual. They build and help us to build ourselves, ”he points out.
Portugal commemorates this Wednesday the centenary of the birth of Saramago with an extensive program of activities, which begins with readings of fragments of his novels in a hundred schools throughout the country.
At the headquarters of his Foundation, in Lisbon, “The Little Memories” will be read in its entirety and there will be guided tours and musical moments; a tree will be planted in his hometown, Azinhaga, and the opera Blimunda will premiere at the São Carlos Theater in the Portuguese capital.
Paula Fernández/Efe/OnCuba.
