Blindness by José Saramago

[Ana]

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1998 was awarded to José Saramago "who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality".

Do join in on our reading of José Saramago's "Blindness", it promises to be an exiting book!

[Ben]

Yes! I'm in. This has been on my list. But I might as well bring it to the top of my list.

Sorry you didn't like Dr. Faustus. I hope this doesn't sour you to Thomas Mann. The Magic Mountain is a remarkable book, and I would highly recommend it.

[Ana]

Ben wrote: "Yes! I'm in. This has been on my list. But I might as well bring it to the top of my list.

Sorry you didn't like Dr. Faustus. I hope this doesn't sour you to Thomas Mann. The Magic Mountain is ..."

Cool! Nice to know I won't be alone on this one, especially as I sinned and read the back cover and it sounded really interesting!

[Ben]

It's been honored as one of the Top 100 books of all time, as voted on by 100 writers in 54 countries (see http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/94...)

[Ana]

A few things I want to comment on a few pages into the book:

1) How interesting is it that in a book titled "Blindness" we have an opening passage full of visual imagery? The colors, the patterns, it's a vividly visual first parragraph.

2) I enjoy "fast" introductions so much, because of their rarity and how entertaining they are.

3) The dialogue in this book is fascinating! I wonder if it lasts throughout the whole book. Talk about literary innovation.

[Sarah]

Thanks Ben for inviting me to the group. I already commited to reading 40 books this year as part of 'Around the World in Books' Group but I'm sure I can sneak most of this group's Nobel titles in there somewhere!

I actually have one book which fits both: Kristen Lavransdatter? http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62... Might make for an interesting addition - unless you already have the books planned of course.

[Ben]

Why did the author use blindness as the affliction? And why is the blindness white? Is this a commentary on the "blindness" (i.e. ignorance) that is inherent to fervent devotion to political and/or religious dogma. After all, the blind internees engage in many trivial, yet often deadly skirmishes, which parallels the ridiculous and tragic religious conflicts we have seen for thousands of years. The condition of the characters parallels that of St. Paul, who saw a great white light on the road to Damascus and was struck blind. And we know what a religious zealot he turned out to be.

[Alex]

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