The Gospel According to José Saramago

131 Pages·2017·0.74 MB·English

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Bruna Reis, The University of Western Ontario
Supervisor: Dr. Marilyn Randall, The University of Western Ontario
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in
Comparative Literature
© Bruna Reis 2012
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Reis, Bruna, "The Gospel According to José Saramago: a Comparative Study of Critical Reception in
Portugal, United States, and Canada" (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 437.
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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOSÉ SARAMAGO: A
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CRITICAL RECEPTION IN
PORTUGAL, UNITED STATES, AND CANADA

(Spin title: The Gospel According to Saramago: a Study of Critical Reception)

(Thesis format: Monograph)
by

Bruna Reis

Graduate Program
in
Comparative Literature

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts

School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada

© Bruna Reis 2012
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES

CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION

Supervisor Examiners
______________________________ ______________________________
Dr. Marilyn Randall Dr. Constanza Burucúa
______________________________
Supervisory Committee Dr. Lilian Magalhães
____________________________ ______________________________
Dr. Constanza Burucúa Dr. Luca Pocci

The thesis by
Bruna Reis

entitled:
The Gospel According to José Saramago: a Comparative Study of
Critical Reception in Portugal, United States, and Canada

is accepted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts

Date__________________________ _______________________________
Dr. David Darby
Chair of the Thesis Examination Board

  ii
ABSTRACT
Portuguese writer José Saramago (1922-2010) is well-known for controversial, challenging,
and thought-provoking novels. In this study, I analyze the critical reception of his works in
his home country, where The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991) was excluded from
participation in the European Literary Prize on ideological grounds, and in the United
States and Canada, where Blindness (1995) brought a wave of uniformly positive response
until the publication of Cain (2011), perceived negatively as a didactic tool to convince
readers of the unviability of Christianity.
This examination is framed by Iser’s theory of aesthetic response. More
specifically, I focus on the concepts of virtual dimension of the text, passive synthesis, and
negation in order to reflect upon the transmission of ideology through the writing of
literature, and the impact of the reader’s personal convictions upon interpretation and
reception. From the perspective of the reading process espoused by Iser, I argue that, in the
case of Portugal, the religious reception of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and Cain
is negative because the reader’s personal convictions compromise the formation of the
textual virtual dimension and the processes of passive synthesis and negation. In the case of
English-speaking North America, my argument is that Saramago’s anti-religious ideology,
offered through didacticism in Cain, changes a scenario of overwhelmingly positive
response to negative opinions on the novel. In this case, it is not the reader’s but
Saramago’s personal convictions that interfere with the reading process.

Keywords: Critical Reception, Reader Response, José Saramago, Wolfgang Iser,
Portuguese Contemporary Literature, Ideology

  iii
DEDICATION

To Nathan,
who was born while I was pursuing this academic degree.
I love you beyond words.

E se não fossem suas palavras
Para diminuirem a grandeza assustadora
De uma oportunidade?
Para me mostrar que eu também posso
Que é suficiente o que eu acho metade?

Dos resultados eu sinceramente me admiro
“Até parece, eu já sabia”
O que me falta depois de tanto rascunhar
É um pouco do teu sorriso de ousadia

Hoje acordei para me questionar:
Será que eu teria chegado até aqui?
Onde estariam engavetadas minhas folhas
Amarelando sem teu apoio
Sem tua fé e gentileza, Davi?

And to José Saramago,
who taught me the importance and beauty of questioning.

  iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this thesis would have been significantly more difficult without
the following people and institutions that will always have my deepest appreciation:

Professor Marilyn Randall, whose expertise, flexibility and kindness were always
offered in relaxed but objective conversations that relieved this journey from its usually
attributed stress;
Professor Constanza Burucúa, who went beyond her role as a second reader, and
offered me helpful advice about every step of this process;
SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), for granting me a
Joseph Armand-Bombardier Graduate Scholarship (2010-2011) that allowed me the
comfort of subtracting financial worries from academic preoccupations;
The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, for partially funding a
research trip to Lisbon, Portugal;
My dear friends at Village Green Community Church, who offered me their
precious friendship, patience, words of encouragement, childcare, meals, prayers and
smiles while I was writing this thesis. I am truly blessed to have you in my life and lucky to
the extent that there are so many of you that I wouldn’t do you justice if I mentioned
names. You know who you are. You are also my family in Canada;
And last but always first, my husband Davi and my son Nathan, for your patience
when I complained, for your understanding when I had to be absent, and for your love that
encouraged me to achieve this personal goal. We have come so far together!

  v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Examination page ii
Abstract and keywords iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgments v
Table of contents vi
List of tables viii
List of appendices ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 – An Overview of Saramago’s Reception, and Theoretical Approach 13
1.1 Overview of General Reception 15
1.1.1 Literary Reception 15
1.1.2 National-Political Reception 24
1.1.3 Social Reception 30
1.1.4 Bio-literary Reception 33
1.2 Theoretical Approach 35
Chapter 2 – A Battle of Ideologies: Portuguese Religious Reception 41
2.1 Themes and Exceptions 41
2.2 Religious Reception of Religion-Based Books 46
2.3 Religious Reception of Non-Religion-Based Books 68
2.4 Non-Religious Reception of Religion-Based Books 71
Chapter 3 – “A Disappointing End”: North-American Responses to Cain 75

  vi
3.1 General Considerations 75
3.2 “Only the Daring Enlightens”: Positive Reception 76
3.3 The Common Ground: Didacticism in Cain 84
3.4 The Effects of Cain on Overall Reception 98
Conclusion 100
Works Cited 105
Appendix 1 – Saramago’s Works Translated into English 120
Curriculum Vitae 121

  vii
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1. Summary of Saramago’s Reception in Portugal, United States, 40
and Canada

  viii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix 1. Saramago’s Works Translated into English 120

  ix