داستان در ارتباط با عشق بالتازار هفت خورشید و بلیموندا هفت مهتاب است عشقی که تا سال های پیری هم چنان عمیق و ماندگار است. این زوج توانایی های خاص و ویژه ای دارند بالتازار با اینکه یکی از دستانش را در جنگ از دست داده مردی قوی و با اراده است و از پس هر نوع کار سنگینی بر می اید و بلمیوندا زنی است با چشم های متفاوت او می تواند درون انسان ها را و ماهیت هر چیزی را ببیند.مفاهیم فلسفی به زیبایی در لابلای داستان مطرح شده است طوری که خسته کننده نیست و به زیبایی آن افزوده است.نویسنده به وضوخ از تفاوت بین ثروتمندان قدرتمند و مردم عادی انتقاد میکند و چندین بار در طول داستان این نکته را متذکر میشود که همه ی انسانها برابرند و از نظر خداوند قدرتمندان جایگاه بالاتری ندارند...اولین کتابی بود که مدت زیادی طول کشید تا تمومش کنم ولی فک میکنم آناخوسیفا کتابی است که باید با آرامش و تامل بیشتری خوانده شود تا فرصت بیشتری برای تامل و تفکر درباره ی موضوعات و مفاهیم آن داشته باشیم.----------------------------------------------------------------------tآنها زمانی که به یک قدیس متوسل می شوند و او نذرها و خواسته هایشان را برآورده نمی کند تصویرش را به صورت وارونه قرار می دهند -tهمیشه آن چیزی که ما می خواهیم پیش نیم اید بعضی مواقع این یکی را می خواهیم و آن یکی می شود و این هم از اسرار دعاهاست.ما دعاها را در اسمان رها می کنیم ولی آنها مسیرشان را تغییر می دهند و راه تازه ای را انتخاب می کنند. بعضی مواقع در راه می ایستند تا دعاهای دیگر به آنها برسند بعضی مواقع باهم ترکیب می شوند ودعاهای مخلوط و دوراگه ای بوحود می اید.بعضی مواقع در راه می ایستند تا ضدو نقیض ها را حل کنند -tمردم که همواره انتظارات زیادی از آسمان دارند کمتر به آن می نگرند و به بلندایی که آن را آسمان می نامند توجهی نشان نمی دهند. آنها در دشت ها و مزارع کار می کنند زنان و مردان به خانه ها داخل و خارج می شوند و به داخل باغ ها و کنار چشمه ها می روند ولی آسمان را نمی بینند -tتنها خدا می داند که هر لحظه در ذهن انسان ها چه می گذرد -tخداوند در ذات و در معنی یکی است -tهنوز هم می گویند آسمان در دست قدرتمندان است. ولی نگاه کنید زمانی که باران می بارد، برای همه می بارد نه برای قدرتمندان -tخداوند هرگز لبخند نمی زند، او دلیل این امر را بخوبی می داند شاید از جهانی که خلق کرده وب عد به این صورت در آمده خجالت میکشد
tI picked up this book while traveling through Portugal this fall. Last summer, I read my first Saramango book, Blindness, and loved it. Walking along the riverfront in Lisbon, I ran into the José Saramango Foundation where there was an exhibit on his work and that of the famous Brazilian author Jorge Amado. It was as though I were a kid in a candy store! There were thousands of Saramango books in the library, and the bookshop carried many of his major works; unfortunately, it only had one in english. I asked the attendant which was her favorite and she said, without hesitation, “Memorial do Convento” ( the original title for Baltasar and Blimunda). This was, per her knowledge, what made Saramango famous in Portugal. I picked up a Spanish translation, as my knowledge of Portuguese is nonexistent. tThe Memorial do Convento is a wonderful portrait of eighteenth century Portugal. As in the typical Saramango style, there is a mixture of reality, history, fantasy, humor, and endless descriptions of contextual facts and surroundings. For those new to Saramango, there will be the initial uphill battle of deciphering and decoding sentences four or five pages long, a lack of paragraph indentation and periods, and a plethora of commas separating dialogues, questions, and answers, of one to various characters– Saramango leaves it up to the reader to identify the speaker. Sometimes, one has to finish a pages-long sentence and re-read it to finally grasp the idea, all this being a surprisingly addictive exercise of the mind. tI must confess, though, that I found his complex style frustrating initially; I blamed the translations (so far I have read Blindness in French and this one in Spanish) and often doubted my capacity to understand what I read. After finally overcoming these frustrations, I must confess that I am now totally hooked on this style. How can I go back to reading orthodox literature with beautiful, easy, and predictable punctuation; long pauses to rest the mind between paragraphs and take a breath between numbered chapters as opposed to this breathless marathon of words, flight of ideas, numerous characters and circumstances dancing around endlessly between commas, and the constant demand to figure out who said what or whether it happens now, it already happened, it will never happen, or is it only a dream?!!!! Without a doubt, I will choose the latter –a thousand times over. tAfter reading this book, I feel as though I had lived in Portugal in the 1700’s. Saramango’s treatment of five distinct but intertwined themes, including history, personal relationships, socio-economic struggle, religion and persecution, and magic is impeccable. The love story is real, poetic, passionate, romantic, transcendental, and even eternal; a beautiful tool for linking the unbelievable, the ugly, the cruel, the unjust, the hopeful, the scientific, the despicable, the surreal, and the downright mad. A book that will definitively leave you thinking and thirsty for more...
What do You think about Baltasar And Blimunda (1998)?
La scrittura di Saramago è una delle più belle, coinvolgenti e complesse che io abbia mai incontrato. Non è semplice. Cominciare a leggere Memoriale del convento è un po' come entrare in un paesaggio ricco, ricchissimo, denso, a cui il nostro occhio deve fare l'abitudine per poter cogliere tutti gli elementi, perché non può bastare un colpo d'occhio con Saramago, assolutamente no. Ogni frase, a volte ogni termine utilizzato, ha un valore non da poco, e cela uno stile affascinante, un uso disinvolto e non sempre chiaro di un'ironia eccezionale, grazie alla quale la Storia viene ricostruita, reinventata, schernita e un po' demitizzata. Alla storia di Baltasar e Blimunda, Saramago riserva invece la sua prosa più poetica, e un occhio quasi di riguardo, riuscendo a creare una storia d'amore intensa e quasi perfetta senza scadere mai nel già-visto, nel banale.E più che accostarlo alla letteratura del realismo fantastico, sottolineerei maggiormente come Saramago sappia giocare magistralmente, tra realtà e immaginazione, con i suoi personaggi, con la storia che crea e ri-crea, con luci e ombre, con l'ironia, e con la fantasia (sua per mezzo dei suoi personaggi, bellissime queste scene). Ci sono dei passaggi, delle battute, a volte anche singole frasi che da sole fanno meritare la lettura di questo libro, e che mi fanno pensare che più che leggerlo, mi sarebbe piaciuto parlare davvero con quest'uomo.
—Silletta
Baltasar and Blimunda revolves around the construction of the monumental monastery in Mafra , an effect of slyness of the Franciscans and vanity of the king of Portugal , Joao V . Thousands labouring workers to satisfy the morbid ambitions of monks and pamper bloated ego of the king remind constructing pyramids in antiquity . Is it the ancient Egypt or the Catholic Portugal pride of kings and hypocrisy of clergy seems to be unchanged for centuries . Marriage of the altar and the throne always looked the same and the little people as ever were losers . People would kneel before the king , the bishop , the altar , the procession , the image of a saint . They would kneel so often , that actually did not get up from their knees .Saramago is wonderfully ironic and blasphemous . And equally ruthless towards monarchy and clergy . He's irreverent when with wry humour is stigmatizing their sanctimony , greed , lecherousness and stupidity , he's sarcastic describing endless ceremonials , the institution of the saints and indulgences , and , what a heresy ! , doubting in the divine order of the world . Meanwhile in the background unfolds unusual story , love of the crippled soldier Baltasar and daughter of woman condemned for witchcraft , Blimunda and their relationship with Padre Bartolemeu Lourenço , who dreams of building passarola , the flying machine . To deny the law of gravity , soar where angels tread , look into the face of God ? Indeed , rather dangerous chimera in the time of the Inquisition . Baltasar and Blimunda , alternately brutally realistic and wonderfully magical , you can hear echo of magical realism here , is an remarkable tale . Saramago’s style is quite distinguishable , extremely long , complex sentences , often without punctuation , with two narrators all at once . It requires a lot of concentration but it’s highly original and rewarding reading . Saramago perfectly balanced insatiable hunger for knowledge and questioning the established order of the world with power of love and man's character to create a powerful and visionary story of the human determination to pursue their dreams , overcome own limitations and rise above dreariness in times when life did not mean too much and people were burning like torches .4.5/5
—Agnieszka
Dentro la storia della costruzione del convento di Mafra c'é la storia di Baltasar e Blimunda e dentro ancora, con un processo dove Saramago spoglia in successione i vari personaggi dagli orpelli materiali e pseudo spirituali, c'é la storia della regina e dell'eremita, un racconto che lascia tutti perplessi tranne Baltasar, che individua nella regina, colei che vuole essere solo donna, la sua Blimunda ed egli stesso l'uomo che diventerebbe "forse volando".Nel contrasto tra i fasti e le etichette di corte e le ipocrisie del clero, in stretta combine per mantenere il potere e questa lucido bisogno di essenzialità sta, a mio avviso, il fulcro tematico del romanzo.Saramago si esprime in toni ironici come narratore ridicolizzando il potere secolare e spirituale: due facce della stessa medaglia, un solo scopo. Ma soprattutto parla con la voce di Blimunda: poche frasi, cariche di saggezza. Lei, ovvero Lui, vede l'essenza che si concretizza in un amore profondo nella sua semplicità, un amore che basta a se stesso.
—Emanuela
