Complete poetry

2022: SARAMAGO YEAR

All of José Saramago's poetry collected in a single volume and in a bilingual edition.

«Let's close this door.
Slowly, softly, may our clothes fall
As gods would undress themselves.
And we are gods, though human.»

This volume collects, in a bilingual edition, all the poems written by the Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago, belonging to his books Os Poemas Possíveis (Possible Poems), Provavelmente Alegria (Probably Joy) and O Ano de 1993 (The Year of 1993), which were written between 1966 and 1975.

With simple, restrained language and a poetic style that is not overly lyrical, his poems address themes such as love, the passage of time, the world of dreams, or the relationship between poetry and reality. However, they also contain the entire creative universe for which the author is recognized today, as they delve into issues such as the need for hope in the future and the importance of fraternity and solidarity among human beings.

In the author's words, «in my poetry is everything I am, my obsessions and concerns, my way of looking at life, society, history.»

Critics have said:
«Saramago makes an elusive reality comprehensible, with parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony.»
Nobel Committee

«A man with a sensitivity and an ability to see and understand that are far above what ordinary mortals generally see and understand.»
Héctor Abad Faciolince

«Saramago is an example, a most dignified style of life and literature, which demonstrates the possibility of swimming against the current [...]. His word has the value of an antifreeze, of a personal remedy against the gales of cynicism that surround us.»
Luis García Montero

«I don't know, nor do I want to know, where Saramago got that diabolical narrative tone, harsh and pious at the same time, [...] which allows him to tell so close to the heart and at the same time so close to history.»
Luis Landero

«Saramago writes novels about myths to demystify them, [...] always to address the reality around him, to deal with current problems that are everyone's, and for everything to be clear from the beginning.»
Rafael Conte, Babelia

«Like Günter Grass or Cees Nooteboom, Saramago aims to connect with a public that transcends national boundaries.»
El País