Baltasar and Blimunda - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Memorial do Convento) 1982 novel by José Saramago

Baltasar and Blimunda
First edition (Portuguese)
Author	José Saramago
Original title	Memorial do Convento
Translator	Giovanni Pontiero
Cover artist	Fresco from the nave of Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe
Language	Portuguese
Publisher	Editorial Caminho
Publication date	1982
Publication place	Portugal
Published in English	1987
ISBN	978-1-86046-901-5
OCLC	47037980
Followed by	The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis

Baltasar and Blimunda (Portuguese: Memorial do Convento, 1982) is a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author José Saramago.

It is an 18th-century love story intertwined with the construction of the Convent of Mafra, now one of Portugal's chief tourist attractions, as a background. Two young lovers interact naturally with historical characters including the composer and harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti and the priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão, recognized today as an aviation pioneer, all in the shadow of the Inquisition. The lovers are always at center stage wrapped in Saramago's language, which ranges from short simple sentences to surrealistic, unpunctuated paragraphs that help to intensify both the action and the setting.

The book served as the basis for the opera Blimunda (1990), composed by Azio Corghi.

Critical reception

"Much reverberates in memory after reading this enchanting novel, but most of all the love story which soars over the rest of the action like a flute across a heavy orchestra. Mr. Saramago, a writer of sharp intelligence, keeps this love story under strict control, free of pathos or sentimentality. It is a love of, and on, this earth." – Irving Howe in The New York Times 1987.

References

Des peintures murales uniques au monde | Abbaye de saint savin Retrieved 2019-05-26.
File:Fresque de la nef de l'Eglise de Saint-Savin (Compartiment A3 à D5) DSC 1688.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Retrieved 2019-05-26.
The New York Times review of Baltasar and Blimunda, by Irving Howe

External links

Quotations related to Baltasar and Blimunda at Wikiquote

v t e Works by José Saramago
Novels	Land of Sin Manual of Painting and Calligraphy Baltasar and Blimunda The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis The Stone Raft The History of the Siege of Lisbon The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Blindness All the Names The Cave The Double Seeing Death with Interruptions Small Memories The Elephant's Journey Cain Skylight
Plays	A Noite (1979) Que Farei Com Este Livro (1980) A Segunda Vida de Francisco de Assis (1987) In Nomine Dei (1993) Don Giovanni ou O Dissoluto Absolvido (2005)
Short stories	O Embargo (1973) Quasi Object (1978) Poética dos Cinco Sentidos - O Ouvido (1979) "The Tale of the Unknown Island" (1997)
Non-fiction	This World and the Other The Traveller's Baggage Opinions That DL Had The Notes Journey to Portugal

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