Talk:José Saramago

Old discussion

I took out the Palestine quote. I don't see how, removed from any context or explanation, it deserves to be singled out among all the things he's ever said, nor how it is relevant to his biography. Yak314 03:30, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I am also portuguese and I'm waiting for the reference for the supposed quota.

--macl

I changed out "anti-semitism" in the introductory description. It IS important, but the descriptions of him as an anti-semite are less important than and external to his base profession and life.

--Adam

've moved the "Anti-semitism" text below, since i think that Saramago's quotes and Bibliography are far more important in an Encyclopedia.

--Joaop 20:31, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

roflmao about the anti-semitism bit...finally someone said something.

Is there any reference about the supposed quota on the Nobel prize?

-- David Déharbe

I removed a book supposedly published in 2005. I found no reference to this book in any other web page (well Google did not) but this one.

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What?! Saramago is no way an anti-semitic! He just criticized Israel for killing THOUSANDS of innocent Palestinians in the way they kill. Just that! He is a communist, he is not anti-semitic. The quote on the nobel prize is indeed true, I'm Portuguese, I assure you. Afonso Silva 15:39, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

The comment that purportedly relates to Saramago's Anti Semitism stems from an interview in Oct 2003, where Saramago stated that the crimes that are being perpetrated upon the Palestinians by the occupying Israeli military forces in the West Bank and Gaza are comparable to Auschwitz. The comment has more to do with how Saramago sees the treatment of the Palestinians than it does with defaming Jews.

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"His main flaw, as writer, is predictability. One may assume for granted that in all his novels class struggle is the key for unraveling human conflict. Such a unilateral anthropology gives no room for psychological tension in his characters. They are not so much individuals as representatives of classes and values." This is POV, there is no place for such material in this article. If you believe I'm wrong, please revert, but present some links as to prove that there is a consensus on this.

It doesn't take a critical essay to understand that such a description of Saramago's works is totally misleading, and factually false. It just sounds like a slur for ideological reasons. You just read his books and you understand that those lines talk about somebody else, not Saramago. Given Saramago's comments on Israel, one might suspect that people who support Israeli policy towards Palestinians may dislike the idea that a Nobel-prize winning author expressed such ideas--hence, the writer must be belittled. Which is a dishonest way to comment on a writer. Besides, I'd like to detach the part about Saramago's comments on Israel with a sub-title, which might be "Controversy"--something that has been done in many other articles--instead of leaving it in the Biography section.--213.140.21.227 (talk) 08:59, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

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In my opinion the "style" section on this Article is rather poor. You basically mention Saramago as an author who writes long sentences, etc, etc, and you do not try to insert him in any literary cathegory. I would suggest that Jose Saramago is inserted in the cathegory of magic realism. In fact, almost all his novels follow the basic patterns of such style, since there are fictitious elements added to a story occuring in a "real world", which are not disputed by the "real characters", and which are not explained in logical terms in the end of the story. For instance, the abillity of Blimunda for seing inside humans flesh and the flying ship in "Blimunda and Baltasar", the unexplained collective blindness of the population in "blindness", almost 100% of the people voting in white in the governement elections in "seeing", etc, etc... You could eventually insert a cross-reference to the "magic realism" Article, which by the way is very complete and interesting, despite also not mentioning Saramago... Andre Bento

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I replaced the doppelganger link with magical realism; I thought your point was valid, and doppelganger is one of many themes that Saramago adopts -- not quite a "see also" link, in my opinion. Judith24 15:29, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

source required

I couldn't find a source for the following:

his publication of Baltasar and Blimunda in 1988 brought him to the attention of an English-speaking readership. This novel won the Portuguese PEN Club Award.

Anyone else? Judith24 15:26, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The Nobel prize bio-/bibliogragphy says he gained international recognition after his publication of Baltasar and Blimunda, which is perhaps even better :-) I changed it. /SvNH 21:51, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Controversies

Now Saramago appears to be a very controversial person, the controversies section is almost as large as that on his work. Imho this does not give a fair description of the subject (cf. WP:UNDUE), and I think we should remove some of it - at least until other sections are extended. I removed the unsourced "Auschwitz" statement. /SvNH 21:51, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Bloom's Critisism

Being the most powerful force when it comes to literary criticism, I was wondering if it is worth mentioning either of these two Bloom quotes--one being a reinforcement of the 'best living novelist' title and another of negative criticism:

“Saramago’s novels are endlessly inventive, endlessly good-natured, endlessly skillful,”

“but it baffles me why the man can’t grow up politically. In 2007, to be a Portuguese Stalinist means you’re simply not living in the real world.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/magazine/26saramago-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Neither quote may be detailed or descriptive enough to be worth adding, but I was just wondering. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rmiller0167 (talk • contribs) 06:19, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You should definitely add that. It's not really fair that there is only Bloom's flattering description of Saramago on the page, while the criticism is being left out. Girlunderglass (talk) 20:44, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Antisemitism whitewashed out.

Well played, internet. --66.188.134.175 (talk) 09:12, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Accusing every critic of Israel of antisemitism and making shit up just because he's a communist. Well played, Wikipedia. 202.40.139.168 (talk) 20:09, 20 June 2010 (UTC)