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Publisher Description
A proofreader realizes his power to edit the truth on a whim, in a “brilliantly original” novel by a Nobel Prize winner (Los Angeles Times Book Review).
Raimundo Silva is a middle-aged, celibate clerk, proofing manuscripts for a respectable publishing house. Fluent in Portuguese, he has been assigned to work on a standard history of the country, and the twelfth-century king who laid siege to Lisbon. In a moment of subversive daring, Raimundo decides to change just one single word of text—a capricious revision that completely undoes the past. When discovered, his insolent disregard for facts appalls his employers—save for his new editor, Maria Sara. She suggests that Rainmundo take his transgressions even further.
Through Rainmundo and Maria’s eyes, what transpires is an alternate view of history and a colorful reinvention of a debatable truth. It’s a serpentine journey through time where past and present converge, fact becomes myth, and fiction and reality blur—especially for Rainmundo and Maria themselves, who begin to find themselves erotically drawn to each other.
“Walter Mitty has nothing on Raimundo Silva . . . this hypnotic tale is a great comic romp through history, language and the imagination.” —Publishers Weekly
Translated by Giovanni Pontiero
Raimundo Silva is a middle-aged, celibate clerk, proofing manuscripts for a respectable publishing house. Fluent in Portuguese, he has been assigned to work on a standard history of the country, and the twelfth-century king who laid siege to Lisbon. In a moment of subversive daring, Raimundo decides to change just one single word of text—a capricious revision that completely undoes the past. When discovered, his insolent disregard for facts appalls his employers—save for his new editor, Maria Sara. She suggests that Rainmundo take his transgressions even further.
Through Rainmundo and Maria’s eyes, what transpires is an alternate view of history and a colorful reinvention of a debatable truth. It’s a serpentine journey through time where past and present converge, fact becomes myth, and fiction and reality blur—especially for Rainmundo and Maria themselves, who begin to find themselves erotically drawn to each other.
“Walter Mitty has nothing on Raimundo Silva . . . this hypnotic tale is a great comic romp through history, language and the imagination.” —Publishers Weekly
Translated by Giovanni Pontiero
38 Reviews
3.5
Alexander-Jamie
Created 2 months agoShare
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“Saramago’s The History of the Siege of Lisbon starts as an intellectual dive into the difficulties and challenged nature of historical writing and ends as a feel-good age-gap love story. The book didn’t do as much with its alternate history aspect as I hoped it would — instead functioning more as a driver for the two love interests; nevertheless, I still found it enjoyable. Saramago’s writing is also quite difficult and lengthy (the man does not do paragraphs fr) though I found his dialogue quite fun.”Bojana
Created 5 months agoShare
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Kevin Gunnells
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Bardhyl Salihu
Created 7 months agoShare
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“A proof-reader tasked with correcting a book about the history of the Siege of Lisbon, for no clear reasons but perhaps the haziness of his mind, inserts a deliberate negation in the story. Instead of the Crusaders partaking in the siege, the proof-reader writes that they didn’t. The publishing house executives who hired him reprimand him for it, but a female supervisor who also works there, and in whom he takes a romantic interest, likes his decision for its bravado and originality and challenges him to write an alternative history of the siege. This sparks a more intimate relationship between them.
I feel that this novel is about the different possible interpretations of history (and “truth” in general) and about how even minor changes can have major consequences for everyone. It is historical and romantic, the historical descriptions being particularly very good. To my knowledge, Saramago was both a supporter of the Reconquista and an Iberian union. However, here he also takes great care to present the Muslim Moors and their culture and traditions fairly and empathetically, arguing in essence that both Muslims and Christians were two sides of the same human coin.
The book didn’t have quite the philosophical depth of some of Saramago’s other works but it was worth the read.”
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