Ο Φωταγωγός
Στις σελίδες αυτού του νεανικού μυθιστορήματος του νομπελίστα Ζοζέ Σαραμάγκου περιγράφεται η καθημερινότητα των ενοίκων μιας λαϊκής πολυκατοικίας της Λισαβόνας της δεκαετίας του ’50.
Πορτρέτα ανθρώπων και οικογενειακών σχέσεων, επαγγελμάτων, συνηθειών και ηθών μιας άλλης εποχής, τότε που οι προνομιούχοι καταλάμβαναν τους χαμηλότερους ορόφους ενώ οι ασθενέστεροι οικονομικά ζούσαν ψηλά, υποχρεωμένοι να ανεβοκατεβαίνουν τις σκάλες.
Η χρονιά θανάτου του Ρικάρντο Ρεις
Ο Ρικάρντο Ρέις, ποιητής και γιατρός, ύστερα από πολυετή αυτοεξορία στη Βραζιλία επιστρέφει στην πατρίδα του. Η Λισαβόνα είναι μουντή και άχρωμη, φαντάζει χιμαιρική. Ο ίδιος, αντί να δέχεται ασθενείς, περιπλανιέται με τις ώρες στους δρόμους της πόλης
Ω Λισαβόνα, Σπίτι μου
Αγαπώ τον Ταγό γιατί υπάρχει μια μεγάλη πολιτεία στην όχθη του. Μου αρέσει ο ουρανός γιατί τον βλέπω από τον τέταρτο όροφο ενός δρόμου της Μπάισα. Ούτε η εξοχή ούτε η φύση μπορούν να μου δώσουν κάτι ισάξιο της ιδιότυπης μεγαλοπρέπειας αυτής της γαλήνιας πόλης, στο φως του φεγγαριού, ιδωμένης από την Γκράσα ή τον Σάο Πέδρο ντε Αλκάνταρα. Δεν υπάρχουν για μένα λουλούδια σαν την απέραντη πολυχρωμία της Λισαβόνας κάτω από τον ήλιο
O Mαρξ και η κούκλα
When José Saramago decided to write a book about Portugal some twenty years ago, his only desire was that it be unlike all other books on the subject, and in this he certainly has succeeded. Recording the events and observations of a journey across the length and breadth of the country that he loves dearly, this travelogue brings Portugal to life as only a writer of Saramago’s brilliance can. Forfeiting sources of information such as tourist guides and road maps, he scours the country with the eyes and ears of an observer fascinated by the ancient myths and history of his people. Whether an inaccessible medieval fortress set on a cliff, a wayside chapel thick with cobwebs, or a grand mansion in the city, the extraordinary places of this land come alive with the kings, warriors, painters, explorers, writers, saints, and sinners who have fed its rich store of myth and history. Always meticulously attentive to those elements of ancient Portugal that persist today, he examines the country in its current period of rapid transition and growth.
Night Train to Lisbon
A huge international best seller, this ambitious novel plumbs the depths of our shared humanity to offer up a breathtaking insight into life, love, and literature itself. A major hit in Germany that went on to become one of Europe’s biggest literary blockbusters in the last five years, Night Train to Lisbon is an astonishing novel, a compelling exploration of consciousness, the possibility of truly understanding another person, and the ability of language to define our very selves. Raimund Gregorius is a Latin teacher at a Swiss college who one day—after a chance encounter with a mysterious Portuguese woman—abandons his old life to start a new one. He takes the night train to Lisbon and carries with him a book by Amadeu de Prado, a (fictional) Portuguese doctor and essayist whose writings explore the ideas of loneliness, mortality, death, friendship, love, and loyalty. Gregorius becomes obsessed by what he reads and restlessly struggles to comprehend the life of the author. His investigations lead him all over the city of Lisbon, as he speaks to those who were entangled in Prado’s life. Gradually, the picture of an extraordinary man emerges—a doctor and poet who rebelled against Salazar’s dictatorship.
The High Mountains of Portugal
In Lisbon in 1904, a young man named Tomás discovers an old journal. It hints at the existence of an extraordinary artifact that—if he can find it—would redefine history. Traveling in one of Europe’s earliest automobiles, he sets out in search of this strange treasure.
Thirty-five years later, a Portuguese pathologist devoted to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie finds himself at the center of a mystery of his own and drawn into the consequences of Tomás’s quest.
Fifty years on, a Canadian senator takes refuge in his ancestral village in northern Portugal, grieving the loss of his beloved wife. But he arrives with an unusual companion: a chimpanzee. And there the century-old quest will come to an unexpected conclusion.
The High Mountains of Portugal—part quest, part ghost story, part contemporary fable—offers a haunting exploration of great love and great loss. Filled with tenderness, humor, and endless surprise, it takes the reader on a road trip through Portugal in the last century—and through the human soul.