“A romance and an adventure, a rumination on royalty and religion in 18th-century Portugal and a bitterly ironic comment on the uses of power.” —The New York Times Portugal, 1711. The Portuguese king promises the greedy prelates of the Church an expansive new convent, should they intercede with God to give him an heir. A lonely priest works in maniacal solitude on his Passarola, a heretical flying machine he hopes will allow him to soar far from the madness surrounding him. A young couple, brought together by chance, live out a sweet, if tormented, romance. Meanwhile, amid the fires and horrors of the Inquisition, angry crowds and abused peasants rejoice in spectacles of cruelty, from bullfighting to auto-da-fe; disgraced priests openly flout God’s laws; and chaos reigns over a society on the brink of disaster. Weaving together multiple storylines to present both breathtaking fiction and incisive commentary, renowned Portuguese writer and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, José Saramago spins an epic and captivating yarn, equal parts historical fiction, political satire, religious criticism, and whimsical romance. Hailed by USA Today as “an unexpected gem,” Baltasar and Blimunda is a captivating literary tour de force, full of magic and adventure, exquisite historical detail, and the power of both human folly and human will.
“A romance and an adventure, a rumination on royalty and religion in 18th-century Portugal and a bitterly ironic comment on the uses of power.” —The New York Times Portugal, 1711. The Portuguese king promises the greedy prelates of the Church an expansive new convent, should they intercede with God to give him an heir. A lonely priest works in maniacal solitude on his Passarola, a heretical flying machine he hopes will allow him to soar far from the madness surrounding him. A young couple, brought together by chance, live out a sweet, if tormented, romance. Meanwhile, amid the fires and horrors of the Inquisition, angry crowds and abused peasants rejoice in spectacles of cruelty, from bullfighting to auto-da-fe; disgraced priests openly flout God’s laws; and chaos reigns over a society on the brink of disaster. Weaving together multiple storylines to present both breathtaking fiction and incisive commentary, renowned Portuguese writer and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, José Saramago spins an epic and captivating yarn, equal parts historical fiction, political satire, religious criticism, and whimsical romance. Hailed by USA Today as “an unexpected gem,” Baltasar and Blimunda is a captivating literary tour de force, full of magic and adventure, exquisite historical detail, and the power of both human folly and human will.
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8 books in catalog
Allegorical parables blending realistic historical settings with whimsical fiction define a distinct body of twentieth-century fiction, most famously realized in Baltasar and Blimunda. Written by José Saramago, these works use imaginative premises to re-examine historical events, human institutions, and political power.
Born José de Sousa Saramago (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), the Portuguese novelist received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony that continually enable readers to apprehend an elusory reality.
Born into a family of landless rural laborers in the village of Azinhaga, Portugal, Saramago experienced poverty after his family moved to Lisbon. Financial circumstances forced him to leave high school to train as a car mechanic. He worked in various civil service roles before spending twelve years at a publishing firm and later working as a journalist, eventually serving as assistant editor at Diário de Notícias. His political involvement included joining the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969. After losing his newspaper position following political events in November 1975, Saramago turned to writing fiction full-time in his fifties.
In 1998, Saramago became the first Portuguese-language writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2003, literary critic Harold Bloom described Saramago as the most gifted novelist alive in the world today. Saramago continued to produce major literary works during his later years while residing in Lanzarote, Spain, where he lived until his death in 2010.
Saramago's narrative style is characterized by long, sweeping sentences, unconventional punctuation, and seamless dialogue woven directly into dense paragraphs. His novels operate as allegories and modern parables, placing surreal or speculative premises against grounded historical backdrops to explore human behavior and social structures.
Central to his output is a subversive perspective on established historical and religious narratives, emphasizing the human factor and theopoetic themes. Works such as Journey to Portugal demonstrate his descriptive focus on regional landscapes, while his novels frequently investigate individual responsibility and authority.
8 books in catalog
Allegorical parables blending realistic historical settings with whimsical fiction define a distinct body of twentieth-century fiction, most famously realized in Baltasar and Blimunda. Written by José Saramago, these works use imaginative premises to re-examine historical events, human institutions, and political power.
Born José de Sousa Saramago (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), the Portuguese novelist received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony that continually enable readers to apprehend an elusory reality.
Born into a family of landless rural laborers in the village of Azinhaga, Portugal, Saramago experienced poverty after his family moved to Lisbon. Financial circumstances forced him to leave high school to train as a car mechanic. He worked in various civil service roles before spending twelve years at a publishing firm and later working as a journalist, eventually serving as assistant editor at Diário de Notícias. His political involvement included joining the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969. After losing his newspaper position following political events in November 1975, Saramago turned to writing fiction full-time in his fifties.
In 1998, Saramago became the first Portuguese-language writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2003, literary critic Harold Bloom described Saramago as the most gifted novelist alive in the world today. Saramago continued to produce major literary works during his later years while residing in Lanzarote, Spain, where he lived until his death in 2010.
Saramago's narrative style is characterized by long, sweeping sentences, unconventional punctuation, and seamless dialogue woven directly into dense paragraphs. His novels operate as allegories and modern parables, placing surreal or speculative premises against grounded historical backdrops to explore human behavior and social structures.
Central to his output is a subversive perspective on established historical and religious narratives, emphasizing the human factor and theopoetic themes. Works such as Journey to Portugal demonstrate his descriptive focus on regional landscapes, while his novels frequently investigate individual responsibility and authority.
Find Baltasar and Blimunda José Saramago in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Baltasar and Blimunda José Saramago in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
