Metaphysical mosaic: José Saramago's novels

Abstract

In this chapter, three novels by José Saramago will be examined: A Caverna [The Cave] (2000), O Homem Duplicado [The Double] (2002) and Ensaio sobre a lucidez [Seeing] (2004). Its purpose is to find correlations between formal features and thematic aspects which focus on individuality, in scenarios of depersonalization. In that dim background, similar characters are enlightened by the narrative, albeit the uniqueness of their roles as protagonists of the human (ir)relevance, like Cipriano Algor, Tertuliano Maximo Afonso, and the police superintendent. Powerful cores of the mythology of rationality are mobilized in the three novels to resist irrational counterparts when essay nuances are mediated by narrative situations where the decision about the disagreements is reached by dialogue or violence. These novels are analysed in this chapter from a consideration of their aesthetic commitment to the literary creation imbued with a reflection on dualisms in a continuous symbiosis in the metaphysical mosaic created by José Saramago.