Jose Saramago

José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE (Portuguese: [Ê’uˈzÉ› dɨ ˈsozɐ sɐɾɐˈmaÉ£u]; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright, journalist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a permanent part of the Western canon". Awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, more than two million copies of Saramago's books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated into 25 languages. He founded the National Front for the Defence of Culture (Lisbon, 1992) with Freitas-Magalhães and others. A proponent of libertarian communism, Saramago came into conflict with some groups, such as the Catholic Church. Saramago was an atheist who defended love as an instrument to improve the human condition. In 1992, the Portuguese government, under Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, ordered the removal of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ from the European Literary Prize's shortlist, claiming the work was religiously offensive. Disheartened by this political censorship of his work, Saramago went into exile on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, upon which he resided until his death in 2010. At the time of his death, Saramago was married to Spanish journalist Pilar del Rio, and had a daughter from a previous marriage. The European Writers’ Parliament came about as a result of a joint proposal by Saramago and Orhan Pamuk; Saramago was expected to speak as the guest of honour at the EWP however he died before its opening ceremony in 2010. Continue Reading »

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