3.5
The Lives of Things
ByPublisher Description
The Lives of Things collects José Saramago’s early experiments with the short story form, attesting to the young novelist’s imaginative power and incomparable skill in elaborating the most extravagant fantasies. Combining bitter satire, outrageous parody and Kafkaesque hallucinations, these stories explore the horror and repression that paralyzed Portugal under the Salazar regime and pay tribute to human resilience in the face of injustice and institutionalized tyranny.
Beautifully written and deeply unsettling, The Lives of Things illuminates the development of Saramago’s prose and records the genesis of themes that resound throughout his novels.
Beautifully written and deeply unsettling, The Lives of Things illuminates the development of Saramago’s prose and records the genesis of themes that resound throughout his novels.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Lives of Things Reviews
3.5
“Picked this up on a whim and so happy I did, because this collection was brilliant. I should have known, really, considering how 𝘉𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 left such a lasting impression.
These short stories are some of Saramago's earlier work, but his signature style is already evident, as is his thematic focus. Rich writing, overflowing sentences, bleak and strangely captivating settings, all forming eerie allegorical tales that explore politics, philosophy, social dynamics, human nature, mortality and much more.
The first four stories were my favourite, all Kafkaesque allegories alluding to the ruinous nature of repressive systems. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳, a slow-motion look at a (literal) fall of the dictatorship; 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘰, a fever dream of all-consuming restrictions; 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘹, a tale of an absurd grasp for power and control and inevitable futility of it; 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, an unnerving dystopia of sudden disruption of order and dehumanisation under an oppressive political regime.”
“I don’t really know what it all meant but I liked it”
About Jose Saramago
The Portuguese Nobel Laureate Jose? Saramago was a novelist, playwright and journalist. His numerous books, including the bestselling All the Names, Blindness, and The Cave, have been translated into more than forty languages and have established him as one of the world’s most influential writers. He died in June 2010.
Giovanni Pontiero (1932–1996) was the ablest translator of twentieth century literature in Portuguese and one of its most ardent advocates. He was the principal translator into English of the works of José Saramago and was awarded the Teixeira-Gomes Prize for his translation of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.
Giovanni Pontiero (1932–1996) was the ablest translator of twentieth century literature in Portuguese and one of its most ardent advocates. He was the principal translator into English of the works of José Saramago and was awarded the Teixeira-Gomes Prize for his translation of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.
Other books by Jose Saramago
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