José Saramago
1998
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature
José Saramago's 'Blindness' is an allegorical tour de force that confronts the fragility of civilization through the lens of a society struck by an inexplicable epidemic of blindness. The prose, rendered in Saramago's distinctive, paragraph-long sentences, demands a meditative pace, inviting the reader to contemplate the themes of chaos and order. The narrative's refusal to name characters, instead labeling them by their roles or physical descriptions, serves to universalize the experience of disorientation and loss. It is a stark, yet profoundly engaging exploration of human nature when stripped of sight—both literally and metaphorically. A thought-provoking addition to any discerning reader's collection.
Saramago's 'Blindness' presents a thought experiment in human nature, stripped of visual perception. The narrative structure, akin to a controlled philosophical inquiry, examines societal collapse through the lens of a contagious blindness. The allegorical depth and existential inquiry resonate with my preference for works that challenge normative perceptions. The prose, while unconventional, serves the thematic ambition effectively.
