Jose Saramago Quotes


. . . if there is a way for the world to be transformed for the better, it can only be done by pessimism; optimists will never change the world for the better.


Citations

Saramago, José. Interview by Maya Jaggi. The Guardian, 22 Nov. 2008.

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Jose Saramago
Jose Saramago
  • Born: November 16, 1922
  • Died: June 18, 2010
  • Nationality: Portuguese
  • Profession: Writer

José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE, was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the theopoetic human factor. In 2003 Harold Bloom described Saramago as "the most gifted novelist alive in the world today" and in 2010 said he considers Saramago to be "a permanent part of the Western canon", while James Wood praises "the distinctive tone to his fiction because he narrates his novels as if he were someone both wise and ignorant." Bloom and Saramago met when Saramago presented Bloom with an honorary degree from the University of Coimbra; according to Bloom: "A warm acquaintanceship ensued, marked by an exegetical disagreement concerning The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, which continued in correspondence and at a later meeting in New York City".