The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Encyclopedia
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (in Portuguese
: O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis) is a 1984
novel
by Portuguese
novelist José Saramago
, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in literature
. It tells the story of the final year in the life of the title character, Ricardo Reis, one of the many heteronyms
used by the Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa
.
In the novel, Ricardo Reis returns to his native Lisbon
from Brazil
, upon receiving word of Pessoa's death. While there, he chooses not to resume his practice of medicine, but rather takes up residence in a hotel where he wastes his days reading newspapers and wandering the streets of Lisbon.
The novel was translated into English in 1993 and won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
.
, and he sees floods of Spanish
immigrants arrive in Lisbon seeking refuge, but he himself never expresses strong feelings or even a cogent understanding of the meaning of the conflict.
Reis also carries on a lackluster love affair, but even in what seem to be his most intimate relationships, he is continually and voluntarily alienated from society. The most revealing glimpse of Reis is in a series of conversations with the spirit of Fernando Pessoa, over the course of which Reis loses a clear concept of the nature of life and death and the difference between the two.
In the novel's final scene, Reis "dies" by calmly putting on his jacket and following Pessoa to the graveyard. Ultimately, it is a story of one man's attempt to resist any sort of cultural contextualization and reject any place in society whatsoever.
This book is also, in some sense, an exercise in meta-literature. Fernando Pessoa created the character of Ricardo Reis fifty years or more before this novel was written, giving him a biography and writing many poems in that name. That Saramago would place the two characters side by side suggests a deliberate blurring of the boundaries between fantasy and reality, a theme common in Saramago's work, and a rejection of traditional limitations on narrative practices. Interestingly, Reis spends much of his time reading a novel called The God of the Labyrinth, a fictional novel mentioned by Jorge Luis Borges
and attributed to the title character of his short story "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain".
Saramago’s writing technique often has strong magical-realist elements.
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
: O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis) is a 1984
1984 in literature
The year 1984 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is widely read....
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
novelist José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
. It tells the story of the final year in the life of the title character, Ricardo Reis, one of the many heteronyms
Heteronym (literature)
The literary concept of heteronym, invented by Portuguese writer and poet Fernando Pessoa, refers to one or more imaginary character created by a writer to write in different styles...
used by the Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
.
In the novel, Ricardo Reis returns to his native Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
from Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, upon receiving word of Pessoa's death. While there, he chooses not to resume his practice of medicine, but rather takes up residence in a hotel where he wastes his days reading newspapers and wandering the streets of Lisbon.
The novel was translated into English in 1993 and won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize was inaugurated by British newspaper The Independent to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched in 1990 and ran for five years before falling into abeyance. It was revived in 2001 with the financial support...
.
Themes
The novel addresses several powerful literary themes, but most of them indirectly. For instance, Reis reads of the events leading to the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, and he sees floods of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
immigrants arrive in Lisbon seeking refuge, but he himself never expresses strong feelings or even a cogent understanding of the meaning of the conflict.
Reis also carries on a lackluster love affair, but even in what seem to be his most intimate relationships, he is continually and voluntarily alienated from society. The most revealing glimpse of Reis is in a series of conversations with the spirit of Fernando Pessoa, over the course of which Reis loses a clear concept of the nature of life and death and the difference between the two.
In the novel's final scene, Reis "dies" by calmly putting on his jacket and following Pessoa to the graveyard. Ultimately, it is a story of one man's attempt to resist any sort of cultural contextualization and reject any place in society whatsoever.
This book is also, in some sense, an exercise in meta-literature. Fernando Pessoa created the character of Ricardo Reis fifty years or more before this novel was written, giving him a biography and writing many poems in that name. That Saramago would place the two characters side by side suggests a deliberate blurring of the boundaries between fantasy and reality, a theme common in Saramago's work, and a rejection of traditional limitations on narrative practices. Interestingly, Reis spends much of his time reading a novel called The God of the Labyrinth, a fictional novel mentioned by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
and attributed to the title character of his short story "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain".
Style
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis is written in Saramago's distinctive style, in which he uses no punctuation except commas and periods, denoting dialogue and changes of speaker using only capital letters. He uses long, flowing sentences and paragraphs often several pages in length. Saramago also digresses from the story frequently, occasionally even in the first person, remarking philosophically on the significance of images, objects or situations encountered in the story.Saramago’s writing technique often has strong magical-realist elements.