josé saramago, “death with interruptions”
i’m going on a limb and saying that josé saramago is the best living writer of fiction. no work of literature written in the last 50 years is more powerful, insightful and disturbing than “blindness.” “the gospel according to jesus christ” – an aggressively (some would say blasphemous) re-telling of the christ story – and “the year of the death ridardo reis” are also works of genius.
if it were written by anyone else,”death with interruptions” would be receiving unbridled acclaim. but because of his history, saramago is held to a higher standard. the idea of “interruptions” being written by anyone else though, is ridiculous. from the first paragraph, “interruptions” is quintessential saramago.
“the following day, no one died.” opens the novel. and no one dies the next or the next. in fact, from new year’s day on, death fails to take any victims in the small country in which the story is set. in the beginning, this is cause for celebration among the populace. the first to realize that eternal life is a problem is the church. no death, no need for redemption, no need for religion — uh-oh. as people continue to age and get sick and linger, it becomes clear to various bureaucracies that society will be crushed under the weight of the aged and infirm. the families of the (perpetually) dying, turn in desperation to crime. organized crime steps in to fill a need. you can imagine where we’re going.
but then a hand-written letter arrives from death, saying she is calling off her “experiment.” yes, “she” and “her.” death is a woman. up until this point (about 1/2 way), “death with interruptions” is similar to saramago’s earlier novels, “seeing” or “all the names” – very well-written social satire. once saramago introduces us to death, the book becomes something entirely different.
“death” we are told “knows everything about us, and that perhaps is why she’s sad. if it’s true that she doesn’t smile, this is only because she has no lips, and this anatomical lesson tells us that, contrary to what the living may believe, a smile is not a matter of teeth. there are those who say, with a sense of humor that owes more to a lack of taste than it does to the macabre, that she wears a kind of permanent, fixed grin, but that isn’t true, what she wears is a grimace of pain, because she’s constantly pursued by the memory of the time when she had a mouth, and her mouth a tongue, and her tongue saliva.”
saramago later reminds us that “obviously, we have no reason to feel sorry for death. our complaints have been far too numerous and far too justified for us to express for her a pity which at no moment in the past did she have the delicacy to show to us…” but later, while death is sitting on small sofa in a bedroom watching a nameless cellist sleep, his dog gets up from the floor next to his bed and jumps onto the sofa and we are told “for the first time in her life, death knew what it felt like to have a dog on her lap.” the acknowledgment of an existence devoid of a single simple, sensual pleasure – how do you not feel a twinge of compassion — even if it is for death?
i loved this book. ok, it lacks the weight of “blindness.” but it’s beautiful and imaginative, moving and hopeful — exactly what i need in a novel in january of 2009.
the illustration is by emiliano ponzi, from the new york times book review.
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Hello Todd! This is Jay’s old intern Nora.
After reading your post I went out looking for Death with Interruptions and ended up leaving with Blindness, which was really incredible. Just wanted to let you know I am officially out of my Haruki Murakami phase and into a Jose Saramago one.
- Nora
hi nora. after you read seeing, make sure you read “the gospel acording to jesus christ.” i LOVE that book. hope you’re well…
I ordered both on amazon and should get them soon. I am doing well and have lots of exciting things to share! I want to come visit soon since I still work downtown, hopefully I will catch you when your in and can hear about how you all have been doing.
I was completely hooked at age 16, when my father forbid me to finish reading Blindeness…it stood in my mind and then at age 22 I finally got my hands on my own copy and from there on I did not put the book down till I was done. Since then I have been eager to read every book this genius of an author ever wrote. Just recently I have finished “Death With Interruptions” although Blindeness stills stands as my favorite yet, I must admit the book had me wanting more, it could have have went many different ways but at the end it made me appreciate Death and look at it very differently. I appreciated the book and I certainly would recommend it to others. Enjoy. Thank You Jose Saramago
I’m sitting at my kitchen table with jose’ book ‘Death with interruptions’ novel. I was originally goolging this book to see what’s its about. This was the 1st website that I opened and I’m glad. I’m looking forward to reading this now with every fiber in my being. As soon as I get threw I’m going to search for blindeness.
- nyx.