José Saramago: Rota de Vida. Uma Biografia by Joaquim Vieira

Abstract

Reviews 106 pioneers in this field, deserve much credit for their courage and enterprise. They do not shy away from difficulties, and for the most part they are accurate. Yet their versions can read rather flatly, partly because they have a tendency to use the closest English equivalent of a Portuguese word or turn of phrase. Sometimes a slightly less respectful attitude to the original can pay off. Here is an example: ‘De casa, e das portas adentro tendes o exemplo de toda esta verdade’ is rendered ‘There are examples of all this truth from homes and indoors’. A freer translation seems justified, perhaps: ‘Your own private lives at home provide an example of this truth in its entirety’. The translators refer to Arnaldo do Espírito Santo’s critical edition of Vieira, still in progress, which has reached two of the sermons in the present volume. They might have made more use of the editor’s glossary and notes: ‘generoso’ is glossed as ‘noble’, not ‘generous’, and ‘com suas pensões’ has nothing to do with lodgings; as Espírito Santo explains in a note, the phrase means ‘à sua custa’ [at his expense]. But this reviewer’s quibbles are not to be taken too seriously. The translation is an important enterprise, and for the most part carried off with success. Joaquim Vieira, José Saramago: Rota de Vida. Uma Biografia (Porto: Livros Horizonte, 2018). 752 pages + 8 pages of illustrations. Print. Reviewed by David G. Frier (University of Leeds, CLEPUL/FLUL) This extensive biography of Saramago offers a portrait of the novelist’s lengthy life and ascent from rural poverty in the Ribatejo to his crowning success as a Nobel Prize-winning novelist. Vieira has conducted extensive research to inform his ambitious project: he has sought out documentary evidence (including detailed records of Saramago’s schooling, civil personal records, and PIDE files compiled under the dictatorship); he has conducted extensive interviews with individuals who had in-depth dealings with him, obtaining frank insights from his widow, Pilar del Río, and also from his long-time editor at Editorial Caminho, Zeferino Coelho, from members of the Portuguese Communist Party, and even from those whose relations with him had become strained or broken down during the course of his life (not least relatives of Ilda dos Reis and Isabel da Nóbrega, his two previous partners before Pilar del Río). In particular, Vieira makes an honest attempt to assess the extent to which Isabel da Nóbrega may have assisted the novelist’s ascent to fame, partly due, no doubt, to the contacts which her privileged background helped him establish in Lisbon. It is to be commended that Vieira has thus sought to reflect both the positive and the negative angles on the author, eschewing (although frequently noting) the all-too-frequently polarized opinions expressed both about his personality and his work. The portrait offered is of a fundamentally private individual whose relentless pursuit of creative success and recognition (including the Reviews 107 sustained ambition for achieving the award of the Nobel Prize) owed much to a need to prove himself to be in no way inferior to more privileged talents. The discussion of some of the more controversial moments in Saramago’s life (such as the dismissal of dissenting journalists during his time as an editor at the Diário de Notícias in 1975 or the abrupt break with the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores in 2003) is sensitive, seeks out multiple perspectives and does not attempt to offer definitive judgements on issues where many of the principal protagonists are now dead. Equally, while Vieira acknowledges and offers lengthy and serious discussion of allegations made against Saramago of sexual harassment and infidelity towards his partners, he also seeks out instances of his generosity (including paying for representatives of the rural community in Monte Lavre to attend the launch of Levantado do Chão at the Casa do Alentejo in Lisbon in 1980), his willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty in helping others, and the immense energy which he devoted to supporting causes close to his heart. Vieira is also resourceful in examining the nuances of...