Overview
Combining bitter satire, outrageous parody and uncanny hallucinations, this collection of José Saramago's earliest stories from the beginning of his writing career attests to the novelist's imaginative power and incomparable skill in elaborating the most extravagant fantasies. Each tale is a wicked, surreal take on life under dictatorship: in 'Embargo' a man drives around a city that is slowly running out of petrol; 'The Chair' recounts what happens when dictator Salazar falls off his chair and dies; in the Kafkaesque 'Things' the life of a civil servant is threatened as objects start to go missing.
Full Product Details
Author: Jose Saramago ,
Giovanni Pontiero
Publisher: Verso Books
Imprint: Verso Books
Edition: 2nd Revised edition
Dimensions:
Width: 12.70cm
, Height: 1.10cm
, Length: 19.70cm
Weight: 0.182kg
ISBN: 9781781680865
ISBN 10: 1781680868
Pages: 156
Publication Date: 07 May 2013
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
A poetic encapsulation of Saramago's extraordinary talent - Saramago's stories have a renewed vibrancy in the current climate of doomsday scenarios, broken balance sheets and government debt. They remind us that when the law fails, a good metaphor can take its place. - Bookforum An intriguing coda to a fascinating career. - Metro Easily bears comparison to Calvino and Borges, albeit with a more politically astute edge...a welcome reminder of why he deserved the Nobel. - Scotland on Sunday One of the giants of European literature...For new readers, this collection is an essential introduction to Saramago's concerns with social decay, alienation and political repression and the alternatives to them. For devotees, it is one to savour. - Morning Star
These early stories are a reminder of why he deserved the Nobel prize.
Author Information
The Portuguese Nobel Laureate José 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. Umberto Eco is a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna and the author of Foucault's Pendulum, The Name of the Rose, and other international bestsellers. He lives in Milan, Italy. Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator. His translations include Creole (2002), The Book of Chameleons (2006), My Father's Wives (2008), and Rainy Season (2009), by Angolan novelist Jose? Eduardo Agualusa.
