The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago
"The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis" is a novel by Portuguese author José Saramago, celebrated for its surreal and historical narrative. The story revolves around Ricardo Reis, a character created by the renowned modernist poet Fernando Pessoa, who returns to Lisbon from Brazil after learning of Pessoa's death in 1935. Set against the backdrop of rising totalitarianism in Europe, including fascist regimes, the novel explores themes of identity, existence, and the cultural climate of the time. Throughout his journey in Lisbon, Reis engages in philosophical conversations with the ghost of Pessoa, addressing profound topics such as art, politics, and religion. The narrative reflects the eerie blending of life and death, culminating in Reis's visit to Pessoa's grave, which symbolizes his connection to a culture struggling against oppression. While Reis seeks solace in a contemplative existence, the novel poignantly illustrates his inner struggle against the pervasive forces of fascism. Ultimately, the story presents a complex interplay of literary legacy and personal reflection within a world fraught with turmoil.
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published:O ano da morte de Ricardo Reis, 1984 (English translation, 1991)
Type of work: Novel
The Work
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis has been praised as the finest of Saramago’s series of surreal historical novels. The novel’s protagonist is a literary alter ego named Ricardo Reis, a persona originally created by the great Portuguese modernist poet Fernando Pessoa. Reis has been in exile in Brazil since 1919, but after he learns of Pessoa’s death he returns to Lisbon in 1935, in the early years of a rising totalitarianism found not only in a Portugal but also in the regimes of Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler elsewhere in Europe. As Reis wends his way through the labyrinthine streets of Lisbon, he is visited twelve times by the ghost of Pessoa; the two have lively discussions on many subjects, including art, life, politics, religion, and history. These conversations act as an intriguing and complicated counterpoint to an emerging fascistic modern world marked by fear and inhibition. When Reis pays a visit to the cemetery where Pessoa is buried, it appears to be a mirror image of the city itself, whose inhabitants have become deadened and passive.
Because the difference between the living and the dead is slowly dissolving throughout the novel, it is unsurprising that in the end Reis is led to the graveyard to take his place with Pessoa. While in one way this conclusion suggests that Reis has taken his place among the living dead of fascist-ruled Lisbon, on the other hand he has secured a transcendent bond with Pessoa that is a counterpoint to the terrible times in which he was living. Reis was content to live a contemplative life in a crisis-torn Lisbon because fascism was simply not a part of his interior life. His inner exile into a poetic, literary, and philosophical world secures an identity untouched by the evils of the day.
Bibliography
Bloom, Harold, ed. JoséSaramago. New York: Chelsea House, 2005.
Boyagoda, Randy. “Bleakness: The Implacable Politics of José Saramago.” Harper’s 312, no. 1871 (April, 2006): 89-94.
Eberstadt, Fernanda. “The Unexpected Fantasist, a Portrait of José Saramago.” The New York Times Magazine 156, no. 54048 (August 26, 2007): 20-25.
Evans, Julian. “José Saramago: The Militant Magician.” The Guardian, December 28, 2002, p. 12.
Frier, David. The Novels of JoséSaramago. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007.
Preto-Rodas, Richard A. “José Saramago: Art for Reason’s Sake.” World Literature Today 73, no. 1 (January, 1999): 11-18.