R.I.P. Jose Saramago
onetet
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/books/19saramago.html?src=mv
R.I.P. to an author with a strong vision and gripping, distinct writing style.
Mediocre film adaptation aside, Blindness = one of my favorite novels of the last 20 years.
The way he made a success of himself as a senior and created his best work in his 70s and 80s should give all us late bloomers hope.
R.I.P. to an author with a strong vision and gripping, distinct writing style.
Mediocre film adaptation aside, Blindness = one of my favorite novels of the last 20 years.
The way he made a success of himself as a senior and created his best work in his 70s and 80s should give all us late bloomers hope.
Comments
It took me a long time to even understand Saramago's novels. I didn't even do too much research or reading about him before I read his Novels, and was first introduced to his work by a mention of Alfonso Cuaron. They seem so simplistic until you unwrap all the concepts he's throwing at you. The whole run-on sentence thing didn't make too much sense. I didn't realize he didn't use "quotation marks" he'll just Capitalize the first word to signify character speak.
I think there's something lost in the English translations, because he spends a lot of time playing with language and his humor is subtle. First book I started with was The Cave. Which felt like a very small story filled with many personal philosophies. Instantly I realized that his characters aren't just characters, they feel like real people with real life problems.
Followed that up with The Stone Raft which was an excellent concept from start to finish. Went on to read Blindness which I didn't like at first until the Doctor went blind then grew to enjoy it. Mereilles movie version brought a whole new perspective to it. Which felt distinctively like a brilliant zombie movie. Then went back to re-read the Saramago book to re-discover things that I had missed before. Like I didn't fully understand the political aspects of it.
" I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see"
Anyways, a loss of a great writer, but hopefully it will give people a reason to re-visit his body of work.
- spidey