O rei D. João V faz uma promessa de construir o convento de Mafra caso sua esposa, a rainha, engravide. Para pagar a promessa encomenda uma construção colossal que vai além de qualquer expectativa, consumindo anos e vidas a fio até que seja finalmente finalizada. Em meio a esse cenário de esbanjamento monarca e clerical, somos apresentados a Baltasar sete-sóis e a Blimunda Sete-luas. O casal tem em comum um passado de tragédias e nada mais, ainda assim veem um no outro a razão de sua felicidade e juntos contam uma das mais bonitas histórias de amor.
Enquanto o convento é erguido, Baltasar e Blimunda conhecem o padre Bartolomeu de Gusmão, um homem criativo, entusiasta do conhecimento e do pensamento livre. O padre rapidamente deixa de ser uma figura religiosa de autoridade para o casal para se tornar um amigo, chega até a compartilhar seu maior segredo: a construção de uma máquina voadora.
Memorial do convento traz o a prosa inconfundível de Saramago, acima de qualquer suspeita. Se nos primeiros parágrafos os leitores desacostumados ao estilo do autor encontram algum estranhamento, isso rapidamente é substituído pela total sensação de deslumbramento que o texto passa assim que o estilo é absorvido por quem lê. Não importa se os diálogos estão quase camuflados no texto, separados apenas por uma vírgula furtiva, o estranhamento que o texto causa tem vida-útil muito curta, o que fica mesmo é a habilidade inconfundível de Saramago em conduzir uma história como se fosse o melhor maestro do mundo conduzindo uma orquestra de alto nível.
Está presente a crítica social, e aqui fica bem claro que Saramago está se apoiando alguns fatos e personagens históricos para que nos lembremos também o quão ridículos eles foram. Enquanto a construção do convento é um exercício de vaidade, demonstração de poder e ganância, a construção da máquina voadora é uma ode ao conhecimento, ao pensamento livre, à ciência. Este contraste fica ainda mais significativo quando nos lembramos que destas duas construções apenas a primeira de fato aconteceu na vida real.
Suas mais de 300 páginas e seu estilo único podem intimidar alguns leitores, mas recomendo que persista ao estranhamento inicial. Em troca você irá receber um relato histórico e mágico, uma história de amor e de liberdade, uma crítica à monarquia e à igreja católica. Tudo isso embalado em uma prosa que está facilmente entre as melhores já produzidas na história da literatura.

Ένα μεσαιωνικό, σκοτεινό κ σκληρό μυθιστόρημα με ιστορικές καταβολές. Αναφέρονται πρόσωπα υπαρκτά με έντονη κ αμφισβιτούμενη δραστηριότητα. Ο Σαραμάγκου καταπιάνεται με το "αγαπημένο" του θέμα, τη θρησκεία. Θρησκεία σε όλες τις εκφάνσεις της κ με τις απάνθρωπες απόρροιές της.

Για ακόμα μια φορά η γλώσσα του Ζοζέ αιχμηρή κ κοφτερή σαν ατσάλι, γεμάτη ειρωνεία κ δηκτική διάθεση και υπαινιγμούς. Μια αλληγορία που ταυτίζεται με το σήμερα. Η ιερά Εξέταση του 16ου αιώνα συγχρονίζεται με τη σημερινή δράση των ιερατείων του πλανήτη. Προφανώς η ιερά εξέταση δεν σταμάτησε τις ενέργειές της ποτέ απλώς άλλαξε μορφή και τρόπους δράσης για μπορεί να επιβιώνει κ να υφίσταται σε κάθε εποχή κ σε κάθε κοινωνία.

Πιστός στις αρχές κ στα πιστεύω του κινείται σε ένα δικό του συγγραφικό μοτίβο παρουσιάζοντας τις σκέψεις του, τους προβληματισμούς του, την αλήθεια τη δική του κ της κοινωνίας. Αδέσμευτος από στερεότυπα και θρησκευτικές κ κοινωνικές τυπολατρείες καταγράφει κ δημιουργεί τη δική του "Βίβλο" που τελικά ίσως είναι κ η μόνη αληθινή.

Um dos melhores exemplos do realismo mágico na literatura portuguesa.

Sob o olhar acutilante de José Saramago, o leitor é transportado para o reinado de D. João V, mais precisamente para o período da construção do Convento de Mafra. Narrando a bela história de amor entre Baltasar e Blimunda, o autor mostra também a sua compaixão para com os sacrificados em nome do capricho do rei. Aliado a um profundo conhecimento da alma humana e a uma atmosfera onírica, este é um dos melhores romances históricos portugueses, constituindo uma autêntica pedrada no charco do status quo literário coevo, revolucionando a forma de escrever ficção histórica.

My 5th Saramago book and I have always been bewildered as ever. Every book by him seems to be a totally different idea. He seems to have never rewritten himself. I first started with his Blindness (3 stars) about people going blind and the world turning post-apocalyptic and this was followed by his 1001 book, The Double (4 stars) that reminded me of an instance when I myself saw a man one morning who looked like exactly like me. Then the following year, 2011, I read his The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (3 stars) for my Lenten read. Then when the new 1001 books edition came up in 2012 and saw another book by him making it to the list, I read Caim (4 stars) right away.

Baltasar and Blimunda is a love story so it is a good book for Valentine's Day. The man is Baltasar a soldier who lost his left arm during Portugal's battle with Spain. Out of service, he meets Blimunda who psychic maiden who sees the inside of the people and who eats only bread and when she eats she closes her eyes. They were already a couple when they met Father Bartolomeu de Gusmao (1685-1724) who in Portugal during his time was the pioneer on "lighter-than-air" airship design. During his time, the Inquisition was still on and because of Father Gusmao's inventions, not only this flying machine but other inventions as well, he was tried and found guilty of heresy. Inquisition was one of the dark periods in the history of the Catholic Church when the supposedly holy people kill suspected people who are making facts with the devil so even Galileo was tried of heresy when he said that the world was round and not flat as the Catholic religious used to believe.

The writing is distinctively Saramago with very few periods and punctuations. Not totally almost bereft like his writing in Blindess but more enjoyable compared to it primarily because it is a historical love story that reminded me of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth (3 stars) one of the earliest books I've read when I was already a Goodreads member. The book at times also felt similar to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (4 stars) minus its philosophical musings. The plot is not as exciting as "Pillars" and not as profound as "Name of the Rose" but definitely memorable because of its milieu: the time when Inquisition was rampant in Portugal and the idea of the flying aircraft was still an unknown.

I took a long while to finish this book because I have been too busy in the office since one of my subordinates resigned. However, I saw to it that I read at least 5 pages everyday as I wanted to know what will eventually happen to the lovers, Sete-Sois (Baltazar) and Sete-Luas (Blimunda). There are very few love scenes and they are not as explicit as I thought Saramago would go but they did not lessen my enjoyment of reading everything. I just prodded and went on and on until the last page.

It was worth the many whiles. Definitely a highly recommended book for all Saramago's fans.

Moj drugi Saramago, i ništa lošiji od Smrti i njenih hirova. Čitajući Sedam Sunaca, već sam znao šta da očekujem, bar što se Saramagovog stila tiče. Dugačke i ponekad komplikovane (ali po pravilu lepe; potpuno zaslužena Nobelova nagrada) rečenice pisane su sa nekim svojim pravilima, gramatički i stilski nepravilno, bez znakova interpunkcije gde bi trebali da budu.

Medjutim, čovek se brzo navikne na nešto dobro, pa tako i ovde - priča romana je pre svega o ljubavi, ali i o ciljevima i ambicijama ljudi, a istovremeno kritika katoličke crkve i odlična satira kraljevskih porodica i života u 18om veku.

Saramago ne samo da je odličan pisac (poglavlje o prevoženju kamena za manastir u Mafri je nešto najbolje što sam pročitao ove godine, a celo delo i generalno sjajno opisuje život u to doba), već je i vrlo duhovita osoba. Narator će svojim propratnim komentarima izazvati onaj tihi smeh, koji te tera da se vratiš tim rečenicama i sporije ih pročitaš još jednom.

Za mene, ovo ide na policu "Reread".

FINALMENTE!!! Filipa is a free elf
O que me irrita mais acerca da obra é que a história até é interessante, principalmente quanto á "passarola" e hands down para a Blimunda por ser uma personagem tão interessante. Então qual é o problema? A escrita de Saramago é o problema. Santa paciência para aturar este homem! Cheio de descrições e enumerações COMPLETAMENTE desnecessárias como por exemplo quando está o "contabilista" do rei lá a calcular os bem do estado e Saramago ocupa mais de uma página a enumerar o que cada colónia exporta para Portugal. Qual a necessidade, qual??? Durante o livro todo fiquei com a noção de que Saramago tenta ser tão diferente e especial da maneira como organiza as frases e utiliza as pontuações (maneira esta, que se a utilizasse no exame de português ou qualquer teste da mesma disciplina. receberia 0 como nota final) que acaba por se tornar confuso que tanto o escritor como leitor perdem o fio á meada.
Enfim, só mais um livro que é dado no ensino secundário português que poderia ser certamente substituido por tantos outros mais interessantes ...

I have always thought that one must be full of a creative madness to write the way it is composed this novel. It is a sheer original, brilliant and spellbound novel.
I was tightly and irrevocably encapsulated by the read from page one. And for sure it didn’t have anything to do with the full moon phenomenon which was happening just this very last weekend…by the time I actually finished it.

What a better start of the novel than by writing of this early 18th century Lisbon royal atmosphere:
≪ Dom Joao, the 5th monarch so named on the royal list, will pay a visit this night to the bedchamber of the Queen, Dona Maria Ana Josefa, who arrived more than two years ago from Austria to provide heirs for the Portuguese crown, and so far has shown no signs of becoming pregnant. Already there are rumors at court, both within and without the royal palace, that the Queen is barren, an insinuation that is carefully guarded from hostile ears and tongues and confided only to intimates. That anyone should blame the King is unthinkable, first because infertility is an evil that befalls not men but women, who for that very reason are often disowned and second, because there is material evidence, should such a thing be necessary, in the horde of bastards produced by the royal semen, who populate the kingdom and even at this moment are forming a procession in the square. Moreover, it is not the King but the Queen who spends all her time in prayer, beseeching a child from heaven, for two good reasons. The first reason is that a king, especially a king of Portugal, does not ask for something that he alone can provide, and the second reason is that a woman is essentially a vessel made to be filled, a natural supplicant, whether she pleads in novenas or in occasional prayers. But neither the perseverance of the King who, unless there is some canonical or physiological impediment, vigorously performs his royal duty twice weekly, nor the patience and humility of the Queen, who, besides praying, subjects herself to total immobility after her husband’s withdrawal, so that their generative secretions may fertilize undisturbed, her scant from a lack of incentive and time, and because of her deep moral scruples, the King’s prodigious, as one might expect from a man who is not yet 22-years of age, neither the one factor nor the other has succeeded so far in causing Dona Maria Ana’s womb to become swollen. Yet God is almighty…. ≫

What I am very sure (as much as a human being can be) that I’m going to remember in a couple of years from this reading is the purely amazing, earthy but also celestial love affair between the two main protagonists -[*unfortunately the 3rd main personage Padre Bartolomeu Lourenco de Gusmao who colored something like a one quarter of the book died far too soon to make a further strong impression…but I’ve missed him even so, he was an extremely brilliant mind for his living times] - Baltasar and Blimunda – two vagabonds, he a former soldier from a war that left him a disabled man without his left hand, and she, a clairvoyant, a girl with supernatural powers, who can see into things and people if fasting was done, two people who are full of eccentricities and have, from time to time, conversations about transcendental things…

The story gravitates around the creation and building of a Flying machine (the so-called beloved Passarola), enterprise which eventually comes to a successful fruition and, which is going to lead to some dramatic consequences for this trinity of airship inventors, and, on a larger scale, on the construction and erecting of the convent of Mafra, a highly ambitious and hard-labouring project which affects eventually the overall population of the country, because events are always interconnected and no one can escape from the eye of the Church (with the high supervision of the Holy Office of the Inquisition) and the State (as per the King’s decrees..).

≪…for it is a well-known fact that the ear has to be educated if one wishes to appreciate musical sounds, just as the eyes must learn to distinguish the value of words and the way in which they are combined when one is reading a text, and the hearing must be trained for one to comprehend speech, These weighty words moderate my frivolous remarks, for it is a common failing among men to say what they believe others wish to hear them say, without sticking to the truth, however, for men to be able to stick to the truth, they must first acknowledge their errors, And commit them, That is a question I couldn’t answer with a simple yes or no, but I do believe in the necessity of error.≫

≪…we never ask ourselves whether there might not be some wisdom in madness, even while recognizing that we are all a little mad. These are ways of keeping firmly on this side of madness, and just imagine, what would happen if madmen demanded to be treated as if they were equals with the sane, who are only a little mad, on the pretext that they themselves still possess a little wisdom, so as to safeguard, for example, their own existence…>>

I’ve found thoroughly absorbing the whole exuberance of the baroque narrative, blended with cascading discourses and meditations on human existence, religion, criss-crossed questions between intellect and faith on life’s governing, all flavoured by a comedy, erudite, sometimes surreal writing style of counting the stories that make up for people’s lives… In the end, Always as something, never as everything, and never as nothing. For, after all, we can escape from everything, but not from ourselves.

My first encounter with the Portuguese Jose Saramago, winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1998, proved to be a perfect match, reading-wise. Enjoyed myself way too much and above of what I can further add here in. Basically, I fully agree with the author’s statement saying that: ≪the world has been blissfully mad ever since it was conceived. ≫

Un altro romanzo di Saramago in cui finzione e storia camminano appaiate. L’esile trama che fa da filo conduttore della narrazione è costituita da un preciso evento storico, la costruzione del monastero di Mafra, avvenuta tra il 1713 e il 1730, un maestoso edificio comprendente un convento e una basilica che avrebbe dovuto gareggiare con San Pietro a Roma per grandiosità. L’occhio attento di Saramago si sofferma sui potenti, sul re del Portogallo Giovanni V e la sua sposa austriaca Donna Marianna, sulle cerimonie di corte e le processioni religiose che seguono rigidi protocolli, descritti minuziosamente dallo scrittore, e sulle processioni della Santa Inquisizione che conducono al rogo streghe e giudei: sono loro, i potenti, che hanno scritto la storia, sono loro che segnano, con il sangue di innocenti e con tante vite strappate alle famiglie, il corso degli eventi, con i loro capricci, le loro paure e timori. Lo sguardo di Saramago verso questi personaggi è pieno di una sottile ironia che scopre le ipocrisie di una religiosità di facciata che ha il sopravvento sul sentimento religioso che lega l’uomo a Dio, espresso da un altro personaggio storico, padre Bartolomeu Lourenço, detto dai contemporanei “Il voador”perché inventore di una macchina aerostatica che precorse la mongolfiera. “Dio, monco della mano sinistra, ha fatto l’universo” dice il prete a uno scandalizzato Baltasar sette soli, ex soldato che ha perso una mano in guerra: “nessuno lo ha scritto, non è scritto, soltanto io dico che Dio non ha mano sinistra, perché è alla sua destra, alla sua mano destra che si seggono gli eletti, non si parla mai della mano sinistra di Dio, né le Sacre Scritture, né i Dottori della Chiesa, alla sinistra di Dio non si siede nessuno, è il vuoto, il nulla, l’assenza, pertanto Dio è monco.”
E’ verso gli umili che Saramago, come padre Bartolomeu, volge lo sguardo colmo di umanissima compassione, verso coloro che hanno portata sulle spalle la storia a rischio della vita, trasportando dalla montagna a Mafra i massi che servivano a costruire il monastero, verso il popolo portoghese che tanti soprusi e sofferenze ha subito, e che viene emblematicamente rappresentato da una coppia di innamorati, Baltasar sette soli e Blimunda sette lune, legati anima e corpo da un amore fedele e imperituro, due persone che sono unite dal rischio di essere emarginate per i loro difetti fisici e psichici e che mostrano forza di carattere e determinazione quali ha chi è stato temprato dal dolore.
Il romanzo è complessivamente un bel romanzo, anche se la prima parte non mi ha preso e spesso mi ha annoiato, in particolare nelle minuziose descrizioni delle cerimonie sacre e profane, mentre la seconda parte è molto bella. Tuttavia, nella mia personale graduatoria, il romanzo più bello di Saramago, quello che non smetto mai di consigliare di leggere, è e rimane, senza dubbio, L’anno della morte di Ricardo Reis.

Ο Σαραμάγκου είναι ένας ιδιόρρυθμος συγγραφέας. Και δύσκολος. Πλην όμως τα βιβλία του αναδίδουν μια ιδιαίτερη μαγεία που σε γοητεύει η ιστορία δοσμένη με το δικό του τρόπο. Ενας μεγάλος συγγραφέας του οποίου όλα τα βιβλία είναι απαραίτητα στη βιβλιοθήκη ενός απαιτητικού αναγνώστη

I'm not the greatest lover of historical ficton that goes back any further than about World War 1. But I do like Saramago quite a lot, and this one was one that became availible for next to nothing so I gave it a go. I would say it's my least favourite of his, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it. Only really Saramago could have wrote this novel, as it does authentically feel very Portuguese, and tied strongly to its history. Despite the elements of magic going on here - never really been a fan of anything to do with magic - there was a deep sense of realism throughout that kept me turning the pages. I'm sure there will be those who love this. And I can see why. Just not really my kind of book. More thoughts to follow...

I love almost everything related to the European Middle Ages and this novel was one of the best I've ever encountered on the topic. It helped me explore more about Portuguese culture, as well, and intrigued to go even deeper into it.

I loved the story of Father Lourenço Bartolomeu, the real historical figure who invented a flying machine in the early 1700s, and the way it blends into the lives of the other main characters. I loved the mysticism blended with the vulgar and the realism of Portuguese social life of the late medieval period.

I also loved the fact that the cornerstone of the novel is a love story between two very working class characters. Their worldview is touching and extremely interesting, insofar as it reveals what the Portuguese peasant thought of the world.

The brief glimpses of aristocratic life are meaningfully similar, but less humanized. Blimunda's touches of the supernatural bring emotion, and the fact that they don't necessarily turn her into a pillar of wisdom is endearing. It's also interesting that the book offers insight into a passionate romance between two people in their late 40s and 50s. Baltasar and Blimunda is overall out of the ordinary and a beautiful, beautiful book. I will probably reread it in 10 years or so.

4,5*