Synopsis:
Best loved novel of 1998 Nobel Prize winner Jose Sarmago.
Portugal, 1711. In the midst of the terrors of the Inquisition and the
plague, a seemingly mismatched couple discovers the wonders of
love. This rich, irreverent tale, full of magic and adventure and
graced with extraordinary historical detail, is a tapestry of human
folly and human will--a fabulous cross between One Hundred Years
of Solitude and The Name of the Rose.
Irving Howe, The New York Times Book Review
"Much reverberates in memory after reading this
enchanting novel, but most of all the love story which soars over the
rest of the action like a flute above a heavy orchestra. Mr. Saramago,
a writer of sharp intelligence, keeps this love story under strict
control, free of pathos or sentimentality. It is a of, and on, the
earth."
Walter Goodman, The New York Times
"Saramago has produced a novel that is deeply imbedded in the
history of his land yet moves in mystical realms. It is a romance
and an adventure, a rumination on royalty and religion in 18th
century Portugal and a bitterly ironic comment on the uses of power."
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago
(1 of 2), Read 8 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Jane Niemeier (jniemeie@hotmail.com)
Date:
Monday, May 15, 2000 09:04 PM
I logged on this evening hoping to see a thread
about B&B. I like the book, but I can't say that I
loved it. Since I don't have much time to post this
evening, I am hoping that someone else will
discuss the meaning of this book. The cover of the
books has this quote, "A romance and an
adventure, a rumination on royalty and religion in
18th century Portugal and a bitterly ironic
comment on the uses of power." I thought that
the Inquisition might play a bigger role than it did
here. The most important thing that the Inquisition
did was to bring B & B together in the book. They
somehow escaped until the very end.
What do you make of the flying machine and the
captured wills?
Out of time,
Jane
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago
(2 of 2), Read 6 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
R Bavetta (rbavetta@prodigy.net)
Date:
Monday, May 15, 2000 09:32 PM
I'm just halfway thru, Jane. It's not a fast read. At
times I'm utterly amused and beguiled by the
digressions. Other times, I find myself wishing he'd
just get on with it.
But I try to restrain myself. My feeling is that in
this book, it's the journey that counts, more than
the destination.
Ruth
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (3 of 5), Read
11 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Sherry Keller (shkell@earthlink.net)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 06:45 AM
I'm about one-third through. I'm glad you started the thread,
Jane. I'll have more to say when I have more time to read. I
can't seem to read this book here. It takes too much
concentrated effort and time. Not a book to sneak in here and
there.
Sherry
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (4 of 5), Read
10 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Steve Warbasse (wk4@uswest.net)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 07:53 AM
Sherry, I have had the advantage of you on this one because I
have been leisurely trekking through it for weeks now. It ain't
no airplane book. That's for sure.
José Saramago has developed his own brand of magical realism.
I find it quite different than that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but
I cannot quite yet put my finger on the nature of the
difference. However, the book goes down much more easily
once one absorbs the fact that one has entered a time when
magic was a very real part of life.
As you approach the end of the book, you will read about the
construction of Dom João V's huge convent. I found this the
most vivid and entertaining part of the novel. It really does
take on the air of an epic in that section.
Jane, when I first ran into this idea of capturing human "wills"
with which to power the flying machine, my immediate reaction
was, "Whao! That was bizarre!" Aside from the weighty
message of that, one soon becomes used to the idea in a
pretty matter-of-fact way. It clearly is the image, for lack of a
better word, that permeates the whole novel. I, too, will be
interested to hear others' reactions to this.
Steve
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (5 of 5), Read 7
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Dale Short (dshort5005@aol.com)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 08:56 AM
Steve & All: I'm moving very slowly through B & B. Definitely a
concentrated read, but I'm really taken by the sheer originality
of it.
By the way, my annoying lack of a second language leads me
to ask for a translation of the Marguerite Yourcenar quote in
French from the epigraph. I can catch just enough to know
that it's very heavy, as is the quote about the gallows above
it.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (6 of 11), Read
24 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Anne Wilfong (annewilfong@worldnet.att.net)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 03:26 PM
B&B is the type of book one must savor...a tough job for those
of us who read quickly. I was glad to be forced to slow down
and soak up the images, but like Ruth, I was alternately
amused and annoyed. I, too, expected more "action" from the
Inquisition, but it did seem to hang like a curtain over
everyone's lives, which was probably the reality of the times.
And, I felt comfort in the enduring love of B&B...
I would not have read this book were it not for CR. While I
have not completely formulated my thoughts on B&B, I'm happy
I came along for the ride.
Anne
Reading is life...the rest is just details
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (7 of 11), Read
19 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Ann Davey (davey@tconl.com)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 05:03 PM
Dale,
It was the sheer originality of this book that appealed to me. It
was certainly not easy reading. Reading Henry James had
broken me into paragraph long sentences, but Saramago
sometimes goes over a page. This forced me to reread parts.
Do you suppose that was the intent?
Ann
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (8 of 11), Read
19 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Jane Niemeier (jniemeie@hotmail.com)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 08:59 PM
Dale,
Here is my translation of the quote by Marguerite Yourcenar.
I know that I fall into the unexplainable when I affirm that
reality - this notion that is so indistinct - the most exact
knowledge possible of beings is our point of contact, and our
means of access to things which go beyond reality.
I hope that this helps.
I found that this novel was a lot of work as well. Diane
Freeman and I have talked about B&B at work and we agree
that we had to reread many sections. If you lose track of who
is talking, you are lost.
I love the devotion that B & B felt for each other.
Jane
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (9 of 11), Read
18 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Edd Houghton (eddh@pacbell.net)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 09:54 PM
Well, it was a real chore following the transitions when Virginia
Woolf changed characters from one paragraph to the next, but
Jose Saramago changes within a paragraph. And many times.
And using commas as breaks, takes a whole lot of getting used
to. Not as bad as ending a sentence with a preposition, but
still.
I'm finding it a bit slow going, and not totally due to my ever
fading faculties, but I persist. I've never actually ran into this
particular writing style and wonder if it was for the one book or
if this Saramago's trademark.
EDD also renewing my acquaintance with Cellini and starting a
John Leslie mystery (NIGHT AND DAY) for sanity.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (10 of 11),
Read 18 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
R Bavetta (rbavetta@prodigy.net)
Date:
Tuesday, May 16, 2000 11:47 PM
I think this is a book best read in little tastes. And since there
doesn't seem to be an earth-shaking plot, I don't think we have
to milk those interminable sentences for every ounce of their
meaning.
I do love the kind of stream-of-consciousness linking of ideas,
but I can't settle down to a good long read. I just keep dipping
my toe in.
Ruth, who normally zaps off a book this size in a few days, and
who expects to finish this one before 2001
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (11 of 11),
Read 7 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Dale Short (dshort5005@aol.com)
Date:
Wednesday, May 17, 2000 09:09 AM
Jane: Thanks for the Yourcenar translation. I was right, it is
heavy. {G}
I think what she's saying boils down to this:
The most exact knowledge possible of beings is our means of
access to things which go beyond reality.
Definitely a sentiment that a fiction writer, or reader, can get
behind. I'm sure I'll get more out of it as Saramago's story
proceeds.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (12 of 18),
Read 24 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Steve Warbasse (wk4@uswest.net)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 07:57 AM
This is a very difficult book to discuss in any substantive way,
isn't it? It is really more of an epic poem than a novel. I find
my own response to the great scenes portrayed in it to much
more emotional than logical and therefore very difficult to
describe without sounding nutty. I thought I might just
mention some of the scenes that moved me for reasons I
cannot explain.
The first was the chapter devoted to the auto-da-fé. It starts
with an explanation of why Dona Maria Ana will not be able to
attend and a description of the sumptuous feast that the King
and Chief Inquisitor will enjoy after the ritual slaughter (51
men and 53 women). There is a nice description of the nature
of this festivity. Then Sete-Sóis and Blimunda meet for the
first time as they watch her mystic mother take a flogging.
Shortly thereafter, good ole Padre Bartolomeu Lourenço
marries them on the spot, and the chapter closes with
Blimunda making the sign of the cross on Sete-Sóis' chest
"near his heart" with her own blood after losing her virginity.
It was at this point that I first said to myself, "Whoa! This is
something way off the beaten path." These images coming
hard upon each other produce a strange effect. I mean, it's
almost better than sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll.
Steve
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (13 of 18),
Read 25 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Kay Dugan (okaychatt@mindspring.com)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 08:45 AM
I've not been reading the posts on B&B because I am only 1/2
way through. However, I'm beginning to think that what plot
there is, is very thin, and that the purpose of this novel is the
running commentary on the nature of religion, relationships,
and power. Of course, there is a lot of historical insight into
the day to day lives as well.
I have found the heavy sarcasm and ironic asides to be quite
funny at times.
As to the stream of consciousness from one character to the
other, I think there is also an overall kind of omniscient,
timeless "I." I am referring to the all seeing predictions into
how things turn out in the 20th century.
I will probably finish the book, as I'd like to understand why it
won a Pulitzer. Any insights, CR?
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (14 of 18),
Read 27 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Dale Short (dshort5005@aol.com)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 08:56 AM
Kay: I agree with your assessment of Baltasar and
Blimunda--a supple and shapely narrative, it ain't, and the
language and ideas often seem near chaos.
My thoughts on why it garnered a Pulitzer relate to something
William Faulkner once said, "A writer should be judged not just
by what he creates, but by what he attempts." I think the
scope of what Saramago attempts, here, is grand indeed, and
even (especially?) the darkness and sarcasm appeals to the
humanity in us all, at some very primal level.
As for my reading pace, I'm hoping to finish it on the plane on
the way to the CR convention.{G}
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (15 of 18),
Read 32 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
David Moody (davidmoody@prodigy.net)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 09:22 AM
Hold it--I don't think this book won a Pulitzer. Saramago did
eventually get some Nobel thing, though.
David, who found the book heavy going for awhile, but thinks
it really takes off in the middle...
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (16 of 18),
Read 34 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Steve Warbasse (wk4@uswest.net)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 10:06 AM
"Some Nobel thing," David? I love that and thank you for my
first laugh of the day.
Steve
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (17 of 18),
Read 39 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Dale Short (dshort5005@aol.com)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 10:33 AM
David: Methinks you are right. My info says Saramago won the
Nobel in 1998, but as I recall that's for a lifetime body of
writing rather than a specific work.
I would be interested, though, to know how representative
B&B's style is of his other fiction. Garcia-Marquez, for
instance, wrote one novel (AUTUMN OF THE PATRIARCH,
maybe?) which was a single uninterrupted paragraph, but to
my knowledge hasn't used that approach again, since.
>>Dale in Ala., whose continual snubbing by the Nobel
committee is a mere oversight, I'm sure {G}
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (18 of 18),
Read 15 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Kay Dugan (okaychatt@mindspring.com)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 02:21 PM
Sorry about that, David. It was the Nobel. Perhaps I should
try some of Saramago's other work - as long as B & B is not
representative of it.
So it really takes off in the middle, huh? I'm there, and nothing
has caused me to soar into the heavens yet. However, it is
entirely possible that Blimunda "saw" my lessening will to finish,
and gathered what remained to act as a catalyst for all that
ether Lourenco is gathering.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (19 of 19),
Read 1 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Tonya Presley (tpresley@swbell.net)
Date:
Thursday, May 18, 2000 11:50 PM
When I read B&B (a couple of years ago, I think) there were
portions that took off for me, but the book as a whole really
never did. Now the most memorable remaining bit had to do
with moving a gigantic slab of stone (or marble?) to a building
site. I think I felt every bit of tension and saw every drop of
sweat in that section.
At the time this was a major disappointment, since I read it
shortly after Blindness, the book published just prior to his
winning the Nobel. Blindness took off from page 1 and even
left me entranced for weeks after.
Tonya
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (20 of 25),
Read 19 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Gail Singer (gailsinger_gross@hotmail.com)
Date:
Friday, May 19, 2000 06:42 PM
greetings TONYA..
i was excited to read BLINDNESS after J.M. won the
PULITZER... i think you liked the book much more than i did
however it rolls...more than the one you all are immersed in at
the moment!!!
i was told not to miss B$b.... hmm.. after reading your posts..
i am not enthused..
gail..lurking as usual...reading ..A GESTURE LIFE by
change-rae lee....
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (21 of 25),
Read 21 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Ann Davey (davey@tconl.com)
Date:
Friday, May 19, 2000 10:50 PM
I love this book, which is why I nominated it for Constant
Reader. I just started my reread a few days ago.
I know its lack of standard punctuation (something which
generally irritates me no end) makes it a slow read. But this
work transports me into another world, part 18th century
Portugal and part a magical place which exists only in the
author's imagination. For me, this place is fascinating.
I am also very attached to Baltasar and Blimunda. The little
people are obviously the heros of this book, and the constant
barbs directed at the rich and powerful really hit the mark.
The book is full of irony and striking images. Here is just one
that struck me:
... this is the mysterious thing about prayer, we address
them to heaven with some private intention, but they choose
their own path, sometimes they delay, allowing other prayers
to overtake them, frequently they overlap and become hybrid
prayer of dubious origin, which quarrel and argue among
themselves. This explains why a little girl is born when
everyone had prayed for a boy...
What do you think of the shifting narrator? There is
consistently one voice, but in one place the narrator refers to
himself as a soldier and in another it is Blimunda's mother.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (22 of 25),
Read 16 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Steve Warbasse (wk4@uswest.net)
Date:
Sunday, May 21, 2000 05:33 PM
I confess, Ann, that I nominated this one for some list or
other, too. I think Sherry recalls my confusion in thinking I had
nominated it for this one.
My earlier characterization of it as an "epic poem" doesn't feel
quite right. What I was trying to get at is that it certainly is
not a novel in any conventional use of the term. I am right
with the consensus here that it requires a great deal of effort
and a lot of getting-used-to. I worked like a mule on this one
for a long time. The question is whether it is worth it. For me
that question is easy.
The moving images in this are something once one is able to
become immersed. I mentioned two earlier, one of which is the
"big stone" scene that also caught Tonya's attention. Another
among many that I enjoyed thoroughly was this comically
extravagant entourage of the King slogging toward his meeting
with the Spanish, another instance of the needling of the
aristocracy that you mention.
Marquez permeates his magical novels with a myriad weird
little images, like that trail of blood running endlessly down the
street and over the landscape, for example. This work is not
comparable. Rather, there is this one magical image hovering
over the relatively realistic action, that being The Passarola.
That seems to me to be the unifying image of the whole epic,
and is it ever strange!
I really didn't think of those little first person snippets as a
shift in narrator. They were so transitory and isolated.
What must it be like to inhabit José Saramago's brain?
Besides the conversation of women, it is dreams that keep
the world in orbit. But dreams also form a diadem of moons,
therefore the sky is that splendor inside a man's head, if his
head is not, in fact, his own unique sky.
Steve
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (23 of 25),
Read 15 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
R Bavetta (rbavetta@prodigy.net)
Date:
Sunday, May 21, 2000 05:40 PM
A few days ago I decided to throw in the towel. Then
yesterday, I found B&B calling and in a minute I was immersed
again. A couple of you have said the book began to grab you
in the middle (of the book, I mean, not your middle, hehe). I
think that's true for me too. I couldn't put it down when things
began to take off. (pun intended)
It doesn't seem to me like there's a change in narrator, either.
I took the occasional diversions referred to as being quotes. I
think there's a single omniscient (and how) narrator
throughout.
Ruth
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (24 of 25),
Read 11 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Kay Dugan (okaychatt@mindspring.com)
Date:
Sunday, May 21, 2000 07:49 PM
Well, Ruth, now you have me curious. Perhaps I will finish B &
B.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (25 of 25),
Read 12 times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Diane Freeman (dfreeman@jeffco.k12.co.us)
Date:
Sunday, May 21, 2000 07:54 PM
Whew! I confess to feeling something like relief when I finally
finished B&B.
Although there were several wonderful parts, I felt it quite an
effort to accomplish them. The whole "big stone" thing went
on so interminably and without apparent climax that I asked
myself "What was all that about? So much tedious struggle,
little gain, the occasion gruesome death going unnoticed but
by a very few." Ah-ha! Life in the 18th century. The later
image of the widow at her door witnessing the passage of the
procession ... very strong. Blimunda's years of searching for
Balthasar only to find him in a setting like the one where they
met, except now he is among the victims. At least I stopped
waiting for a plot to emerge, but it was still work to sort out
who was speaking to whom about what.
I agree that there were several witty and even amusing bits,
starting with the Queen tricking the King into committing to
build the convent after she already knew she was pregnant.
What a charming manipulation of the superstitions which she
subscribed to personally. If there was any controlling device,
it was the construction of the convent, and what a way to
introduce it.
Besides the relationship between Baltasar and Blimunda, the
description of the contrast between the funeral observances
of the poor vs. aristocratic children showed Saramago as
sympathetic to the peasants, giving them the powerful relief
of love while seeming not to credit any clergy or royalty with
the ability to love at all, let alone deeply. (whoa, my
sentences are getting almost as long as JS's!)
While I would not necessary suggest this book to friends, I am
sufficiently intrigued to give Blindness a try.
Diane
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (26 of 27), Read 12
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Anne Wilfong (annewilfong@worldnet.att.net)
Date:
Monday, May 22, 2000 04:27 PM
Has any one read Saramago's "The Gospel According to Jesus
Christ?" I picked it up briefly at the used bookstore the other day,
but let it go. Reluctantly. I couldn't quite interpret my feelings. On
one hand Saramago intrigues me, the topic intrigues me, and I
know it will be different from any other book I've read (except
B&B!). But on the other hand, I'm not so sure I'm ready to tackle
the writing style just yet.
Well, it wouldn't hurt anything to have it on my shelf now, would
it? Amazon.com readers give this one rave reviews, preferring it to
"Blindness." Perhaps I'll nominate it for next year's list...
Anne
Reading is life...the rest is just details
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (27 of 27), Read 12
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Dottie Randall (randallj@ix.netcom.com)
Date:
Monday, May 22, 2000 04:48 PM
sounds like a challenge that I might take, Ann, I didn't make this
B&B one but it will stay on the list and probably jump into the fray
one day -- but this one, well, I might just tackle it ahead of B&B.
Dottie
ID is an oxymoron!
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (28 of 31), Read 26
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Sherry Keller (shkell@earthlink.net)
Date:
Sunday, May 28, 2000 08:29 AM
"Everything in this world can volunteer some reply, what takes up
time is posing the questions."
Sometimes a book is so dense, so thick with ideas and images, that
it is hard to talk about it. I don’t take notes as I read; I think it
interrupts the flow of the book. I sometimes underline sentences,
but not often (and then I can’t find them when I look for them). So
how do you talk about a book like Baltasar and Blimunda? My
question is: what are the large themes? Once, the omniscient
narrator said "This is only a fairy tale." So what are the
mythological, archetypal messages here?
Think about all the journeys there are. Individuals and groups of
people go from one place to another, either in indescribable
splendor and luxury or in abject poverty and pain. Contrast the
royal wedding journeys to the journey of the boy monks. And what
do you think about the journey of the statues of the saints?
Sometimes the journeys represent quests for knowledge, sometimes
they seem to be borne of pure idiocy. Blimunda’s last journey was
nine years long. Wasn’t it a surprise when she said to her
sister-in-law "I’ll be right back" and practically the next sentence
was "For nine long years, Blimunda searched for Baltasar."
What do you think the mother of all rocks represented? To me it
seemed in direct contrast to the flying machine. Why do you think
Baltasar was Seven Suns and Blimunda was Seven Moons?
(Contrary to Saramago, I find it much easier to ask the questions
than to answer them.)
Sherry
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (29 of 31), Read 24
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
R Bavetta (rbavetta@prodigy.net)
Date:
Sunday, May 28, 2000 10:59 AM
I'm getting closer to the end of this book, but it's still not finished. I
find it impossible to sit down and read it for any longer than an
hour. I start to drown in the verbiage that seemed so wonderful at
the start of my session. There were any number of wonderful,
thought-provoking sentences, but like you, Sherry, I don't take
notes and can seldom find them later, if indeed I even remember
them.
Ruth
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (30 of 31), Read 27
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Sherry Keller (shkell@earthlink.net)
Date:
Sunday, May 28, 2000 11:14 AM
I thought the end of the book flew by, Ruth. So I bet you finish it
soon.
Ann, I want to thank you for nominating this. I think it is a brilliant,
though difficult book.
Sherry
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (31 of 31), Read 6
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Ann Davey (davey@tconl.com)
Date:
Monday, May 29, 2000 09:12 AM
I finally finished B&B last night. Although I nominated this book
because I was so impressed by it, I have to confess that a
secondary motive was that I needed a bit of a push to finish up
those last hundred pages. I set it aside, temporarily I thought, to
read the some of the list books on CC and CR, and never quite got
back to it. This time I started at the beginning and read through to
the finish.
Saramago's wit is what most attracts me to his writing. At times it
is whimsical, but at others it is very bitter. I expected the latter in
the many references to the selfishness and extravagance of the
king and nobility. I was a bit taken aback, however, by the anger
directed towards God. Like Baltasar, God is imperfect, because he is
also missing his left hand. He is sometimes judged guilty for the
mess that resulted from his creation of the world.
To give a couple of examples:
Father Lorenco explains to Baltasar that confession is not really
necessary because God sees into the hearts of man and will even
up the score at judgment day
although it may also come to pass that everything will end with a
general amnesty or universal punishment, all that remains to be
known is who will pardon or punish God. (p. 171)
And on page 302:
the royal party drove past looking solemn, grave, and imperious
without so much as a smile, for God himself never smiles, and He
must have His reasons, who knows, perhaps He has ended up
feeling ashamed of this world He has created.
Maybe I should have expected this in a book which only takes off
after Baltasar meets Blimunda at an auto da fe organized by the
Inquisition and ends with Baltasar burned at the stake in another
Inquisition "event".
I'm not sure what it all means, Sherry, although you have posed
excellent questions. The big stone reminds me of the myth of
Sysiphus, which emphasizes to me the futility of life. The common
man labors incessantly, but once he has pushed that enormous
stone to its allotted place, another equally daunting task replaces
this one. The rich and powerful, from both the crown and the
church, march by in incessant processions designed to impress the
common folk with their authority and worth. But even the King
finally realizes that death threatens to make it all meaningless. He
will not even be alive when, and if, the convent is finally completed.
The only true meaning in life is to be found in love. The love
between Baltasar and Blimunda even substitutes for a religion which
the author has found so deficient. Describing the two making love,
he says:
there was no difference whatsoever between the ritual of those
lovers and the sacrifice of Holy Mass, and if there were, the Mass
would surely lose out. (p. 129)
Ann
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (32 of 33), Read 9
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Edd Houghton (eddh@pacbell.net)
Date:
Sunday, June 11, 2000 06:10 PM
So, now I've finished BALTASAR and BLIMUNDA. I really feel there
should be some reward. A tee shirt with an appropriate
announcement and clever picture. At this moment it does seem like
an achievement.
But how do I feel about the book? Three-hundred forty-three pages
and I haven't a clue. This book seems more like a verbal tapestry
hung on the walls of some decaying castle, off the beaten track. It
tells several stories; but only the love story of Baltasar and Blimunda
seems important. The others are more like gossip or chatter thrown
in by the overall narrator to create atmosphere, to gossip and to
settle some personal scores.
In order to fully integrate this novel, I have to stand back and get a
wider view. I have to pause and meditate; take time and slowly
review. It starts with a soldier losing a limb in a war for the powers
that be and ends with the same soldier losing his life because of
other powers that be. In between he has a lover who remains true,
even into a death
where she absorbs his soul as the last act of love.
But is it a good story? A great story? Ask me in a year.
EDD now reading DEPTH TAKES A HOLIDAY by Sandra Loh.
Did anybody pick up on the reference to Hans Pfall somewhere near
the middle of the book. That's a whimsical reference to a SciFi story
by Edgar Allan Poe, THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURES OF ONE
HANS PFALL.
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (33 of 33), Read 5
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Jane Niemeier (jniemeie@hotmail.com)
Date:
Sunday, June 11, 2000 08:15 PM
Edd,
That was a great review of B & B. I am wondering how much of the
book will remain with me after a year has past.
Jane
Topic:
BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA by Jose Saramago (34 of 34), Read 19
times
Conf:
READING LIST BOOKS
From:
Steve Warbasse (wk4@uswest.net)
Date:
Tuesday, June 13, 2000 08:45 AM
Edd, I really did like this phrase, "like a verbal tapestry hung on the
walls of some decaying castle," you old wordsmith you. That
captures this novel pretty well from my point of view.
I suppose an interest in those other aspects of the novel depend to
some extent in whether one has any interest whatsoever in the
history of Iberia and Portugal in particular. João V's involvement in
the War of Spanish Succession, his extravagant attempts to emulate
the splendor of Louis XIV's court in France, and his fixation on
proving himself the most Catholic of all Kings are things that would of
course interest only a very few readers--perhaps only Portuguese
readers.
Let's face it. Most readers don't come to a novel willing to do a lot of
other reading in order to appreciate the novel fully, a problem similar
that which one encounters with The Name of the Rose.
However, I suspect that when you have had some time to digest
this, you won't regret the time devoted to it. Certain scenes in this
novel are very vivid and will stick with you, I'll bet. What did you
have in mind for the tee? A stylized flying machine over the phrase,
"I survived Baltasar and Blimunda!"?
Steve
|
Jose Saramago
|
