International literature #3: Portuguese

Thanks for reviving this! And god what a revival! Literature from Portugal is my favourite. So much so that I am studying (I mean...) learning the language.

It all started with the novel All the Names by Saramago which I just randomly picked up at some random bookshop, so let me start with Saramago. Saramago is one of the best novelists the world has ever seen. You don't need names, just read whatever he wrote. As I said in another thread, "Saramago never underwhelms." I think I need to stop here otherwise this'll be a wall of text dedicated to him. But let me say this: Saramago novels are an experience. The million ways he attacks a story, the way he zooms in an out, and he blurs the image and takes the stage like a weather report speaker, how he dances with the reader with ever flowing sentences... finishing a Saramago novel is like finishing a pint of beautiful beer, you end up feeling some sort of saudade for that first sip you took, and an urge to chuckle another one. Lastly, Saramago is also an author of theatre plays, a couple children's books, and also a poet. He's also my literary hero.

(@Yugioh_Mishima too has something to say about Saramago, and Pessoa, about whom I'll say a few words myself just below.)

Fernando Pessoa is one of my favourite poets. I haven't read The Book of Disquiet yet, but I've read translations of his poems, and also The Anarchist Banker which is a short story that is resemblant of a Platonic dialogue that has had profound effect on me. I love love Pessoa, and I can confidently suggest him to anyone. He's also the prince of saudade, just give a read to Na véspera de năo partir nunca. Among his famous pseudonyms, I'm a fan of Ricardo Reis with his epicurean-neoclassic vibe. José Saramago has written a novel called The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis where the ghost/soul of Pessoa visits Reis for a year after dying. Antonio Tabucchi has written a novella wherein the pseudonyms of Pessoa come to see him in his deathbed.

My new guy from Portugal is Gonçalo M. Tavares. A random find like Saramago, but again one of the best authors I've ever got to read. He's a contemporary author, and Saramago has said that he expected that Tavares will surely obtain a Nobel Prize. He has an incredibly captivating philosophical approach. Aprender a rezar na era da técnica "Learning to Pray in the Age of Technique" is one of my favourite novels ever. I won't spoil it for you, but take my word for it.

I am looking forward to any suggestions here from Portugal specifically. The amount of translations to Turkish is not much, and I don't have easy access to English and Italian translations, so I can't easily get into it. But this summer I'll learn Portuguese, and I'd love to have a list of stuff to discover. This little country has produced three literary superstars in a century, bet she has way more to offer!

Edit: I forgot to mention the Brazilian José Mauro de Vasconcelos. His novel My Sweet Orange Tree was one of the first books I read and loved as a kid. I don't really recall what it was about (apart from a kid and his relation to trees in his garden), but I never forget my love for the novel. Its title in Turkish, Şeker Portakalı "Sugar Orange" is heartwarming to me for some reason. I should give it a re-read sometime.

For what its worth, I think this is a great thread!