saramago’s writing style

here is another example of saramago’s writing style. i have already talked enough about (and in) that peculiar style, so i’ll let the passage speak for itself…

 And what I’d like to know is what moves inside us and where does it go, no, I’m not talking about worms, microbes, bacteria, those living creatures that inhabit us, I’m referring to something else, something that moves and perhaps moves us at the same time, just as constellation, galaxy, solar system, sun, earth, sea, peninsula, and Deux Chevaux move and move us with them, what is the name, finally, of the thing that moves all the rest, from one end of the chain to the other, or perhaps there is no chain and the universe is a ring at once so thin that apparently only we and what is inside us fit into it and so thick that it can accommodate the maximum dimension of the universe, which is the ring itself, what is the name of what follows after us.

his style is supposed to mimic normal speech (keep in mind that his work is translated though we must always keep this in mind). note the aversion to periods and punctuation save for commas. sometimes he does not even capitalize proper nouns. words feel a lot different when uncapitalized spain italy einstein brian

Advertisement