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Saramago posts today about how he came by his writing style. Interesting in the context of Edmond's calling it "Baroque":

This, what people call my style, arises from a great admiration for the language which was spoken in Portugal in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Let us look at the sermons of Father António Vieira and we'll see that in everything he wrote, there is a language filled with flavor and rhythm, as if this were not exterior to the language but rather something intrinsic.

We do not know how people spoke in this epoch, but we know how they wrote. Language back then was an uninterrupted flow. Admitting that we could compare it to a river, we feel that it's like a great mass of water that slips along with weight, with splendor, with rhythm, including when at times, its course is interrupted by cataracts.

Some days of vacation have arrived, a fine time for wading deep into these waters, into this language written by Father Vieira. I'm not advising anyone to do anything, just saying that I'm going to go swimming in the greatest prose and, for this reason, will be gone for a few days. Would anyone like to come along?

posted evening of Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
➳ More posts about Saramago's Notebook
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That's very cool to learn, Jeremy. The image and idea of the river and its "uninterrupted flow" are evocative indeed when it comes to Saramago's own style.

Thanks for that and for your translations of Saramago generally -- a public service!

posted afternoon of April 8th, 2009 by Edmond Caldwell

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