Reading José Saramago’s Blindness with the Aveyron Book Group

The Aveyron Book Group

Keen readers gather around France for regular book readings
and reviews, usually over a cup of tea or a glass of wine.

French News Online, in collaboration with one of these – The
Aveyron Book Group – here introduces a regular book lovers’
page.

The Aveyron Book Group was set up in 2003 with just 5 members
and now with a full house at 14, it meets regularly in the afternoons
for tea, visiting each other’s homes on a rota basis. (For
further information regarding the Aveyron Book Group – please
click this link).

Blindness, Jose Saramago

The Aveyron Book Group’s most recent choice was: Blindness
by Jose Saramago, translated from the Portuguese by Giovanni Pontiero
from the 1995 Ensaio sombre a Cegueira. 309 pages London: The
Harvill Press, 1997 ISBN: 0-15-136700-9

Anne Dyson, a member of the Aveyron Book Group writes:

Nine members met mid-May to discuss this book. There was a
wide variety of comments, from three members who actively hated
the book to two who thought it was a work of genius. The book
is the story of a strange illness which causes blindness.

The first man affected passes on the infection and the snowball
effect means that in a very short time all but one woman are
affected by this white blindness . The first people affected
are incarcerated in an institution where gradually there is
a breakdown of society, the ‘inmates’ find themselves wallowing
in unspeakable filth, there is shortage of food which causes
one group of men to commandeer the supplies and gang rape the
women in return for a share of the food. Several people are
murdered by the soldiers who are guarding them, who have a fear
of contacting the blindness.

Throughout their time in the institution the one woman who has
been unaffected by the illness elects to stay with her husband
and help the group though they do not know that she can still
see. The tensions between her ability to see and to lead the
group while they do not know she can see are cleverly handled.
The horror of their lives is all too graphically described but
the ending is a very real disappointment – several in the group
felt the author had dug himself a hole from which he couldn’t
extricate himself and felt the ending was trite and a ‘get out’.

Saramago writes without paragraphs and without speech marks,
some members of the group found this disturbing in itself and
thought it made the story difficult to follow whilst two members
had not noticed this having been so involved with content and
had to look at their own book to make sure their editions was
the same! The book can be read on two levels, one the story
itself, the other being an allegory for society and its blindness
to the needs of others, the breakdown of society taking but
a small step away from the norm. The book is a frightening glimpse
into a future which could be all too true, and which parallels
some of the countries where dictators have used and abused the
society they are a part of. For several members of our group
there were echoes of ‘Lord of the Flies’. Altogether it was
a disturbing and uncomfortable read. The final score was 67%
which put the book around the middle of our scores despite it
having so many negative comments.

The lively discussion and the strong feelings engendered by
the book made for a stimulating afternoon. Our afternoon tea
was a very welcome diversion and a relaxing break afterwards.

Blindness (originally titled Ensaio Sobre A Cegueira in Portuguese,
meaning Essay on Blindness) is a novel by the Portuguese author
and Nobel-Laureate José Saramago, (whose name in English
means wild radish). It is, along with The Gospel According to
Jesus Christ and Baltasar and Blimunda, one of Saramago’s most
famous novels and has been turned into a film

Review: Anne
Dyson, Aveyron Book Group
annedyson@wanadoo.fr

Here are some remarks that place “Blindness”
in its context:

Please click here to pop-up a new window

Other
views on this controversial book can be found here:

www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/saramago-blindness.html
and here:
www.readreactreview.com/2010/02/04/n-e-a-r-review-blindness-by-jose-saramago/

Here is a link to a study guide for those who may not know
about the book:
www.bookrags.com/studyguide-blindness/

Anne
Dyson

Anne Dyson, in cooking mode!

Anne Dyson runs the well known Greedy Goose cooking school which
is associated with Maison Dyson, her charming retreat in an area
bordering the Tarn and Tarn et Garonne. For further information
about Anne and her two enterprises, The Greedy Goose and Maison
Dyson, please click this link to pop-up a new window.

The Greedy Goose, Cookery School

Links

Greedy Goose
Cookery School
Maison
Dyson