José Saramago
Paperback | Pages: 314 pages Rating: 3.81 | 4399 Users | 396 Reviews
Itemize Books During The History of the Siege of Lisbon
| Original Title: | História do Cerco de Lisboa |
| ISBN: | 1860467229 (ISBN13: 9781860467226) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Raimundo Silva, Dom Afonso Henriques |
| Setting: | Lisbon(Portugal) |
| Literary Awards: | Jarl Hellemann -palkinto (2015) |
Interpretation In Favor Of Books The History of the Siege of Lisbon
"If proofreaders were given their freedom and did not have their hands and feet tied by a mass of prohibitions more binding than the penal code, they would soon transform the face of the world, establish the kingdom of universal happiness, giving drink to the thirsty, food to the famished, peace to those who live in turmoil, joy to the sorrowful ... for they would be able to do all these things simply by changing the words ..." The power of the word is evident in Portuguese author José Saramago's novel, The History of the Siege of Lisbon. His protagonist, a proofreader named Raimundo Silva, adds a key word to a history of Portugal and thus rewrites not only the past, but also his own life.Brilliantly translated from the Portuguese by Giovanni Pontiero, The History of the Siege of Lisbon is a meditation on the differences between historiography, historical fiction, and "stories inserted into history." The novel is really two stories in one: the reimagined history of the 1147 siege of Lisbon that Raimundo feels compelled to write and the story of Raimundo's life, including his unexpected love affair with the editor, Maria Sara. In Saramago's masterful hands, the strands of this complex tale weave together to create a satisfying whole.
Present Containing Books The History of the Siege of Lisbon
| Title | : | The History of the Siege of Lisbon |
| Author | : | José Saramago |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 314 pages |
| Published | : | 2000 by Harvill Press (first published 1989) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Portugal. Historical. Historical Fiction. European Literature. Portuguese Literature. Literature |
Rating Containing Books The History of the Siege of Lisbon
Ratings: 3.81 From 4399 Users | 396 ReviewsJudge Containing Books The History of the Siege of Lisbon
This book took more time than usual for me to read. The problem with Saramago's book, at least for me, is that it requires good stretches of uninterrupted attention, something which has been a sparse thing these days. But I finally finished it today.Saramago is up to his typical mischievousness here, lobbing another "what if"? The man's imagination is as boundless as his knowledge and wonder. The plot of this story hinges on a moment of whimsy on the part of a very ordinary, unwhimsical,This is a sort of quantum mechanical novel, where all possible histories, real and fictional, exist in a wave function of reality, which collapses into a classical story when observed. It was no small trick on Saramago's part to be able to write a book with these qualities that still remains completely comprehensible and enjoyable. It is also a story of how truth, beauty and love can be found by turning things upside down. When Raimundo Silva, a professional proofreader for a publishing house,
If not for the overabundance of digressions, an almost perfect take on the problem of writing history, the task of the author, the publishing industry, and the overlapping of history and fiction.
Literary fiction about a proofreader that significantly alters the meaning of a book by changing one word, such that his revised text states the crusaders did NOT help the Portuguese drive the Moors out of Lisbon in the year 1147. At the suggestion of his newly appointed supervisor, the proofreader then goes on to write his own version of The History of the Siege of Lisbon, using his altered text as a starting point. Since he lives in Lisbon, he can actually visit some of the locations where the
Jose Saramago may not somebody who relies so heavily on plot. He utilizes stream-of-consciousness in "The History of the Siege of Lisbon" as a way to merge the history of the citys past with that of the protagonist living out his life in the modern day. In the novel, conversations bear no quotations, no parentheses appear on added-on ideas/non sequiturs, nor are questions accompanied by a ?. Whole paragraphs are pages long, & it's safe to say that most of them contain a single action or noun
If at first a little tiring, this book certainly makes up for its somewhat unconventional style. As fiction, the story is engaging, but it's the places the text goes in the direction of challenging the orthodoxy of historical writing that is truly memorable. The sacredness of print, the linearity of time (to say nothing of the sentence), and even the value of proofreading (in more ways than one) are all thrown out the window. This is historical fiction at its best.
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