Exploring the Themes of Life and Death in Jose Saramango’ Selected Novels
Maria Irene da Fonseca e Sá *
Faculty of Administration and Accounting Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In 2005, the octogenarian José Saramago published the romance As Intermitências da Morte. The romance maintains the criticism, recurrent in other works, of the perversity, arbitrariness and collusion stratagems practiced by the different components of society established in the world in order to dominate humanity. He provokes his readers to reflect on the human rights of people who experience the approaching end of their time of existence. He himself claimed that he wrote to think about circumstances in life that troubled him. The research aims to analyze some of his works that refer to the discussion of the finitude of life – death. Specially studied are the romances As Intermitências da Morte, Todos os Nomes, A Viagem do Elefante and Alabardas, Alabardas, Espingardas, Espingardas in order to reflect on the condition of the human being as a living mortal being. The work is based on qualitative research in which publications on the subject of life and death of human beings are considered and analyzed. He seeks to lead his readers to reflect on the inevitability of death and how it is absolutely necessary. According to Saramago's thinking, the study concludes that a person's life can be maintained, despite being dead, when it still remains in the memory of another person(s).
Keywords: Death, life, josé saramago, AS intermitências da morte, time