*edited on 27.05.2020

The word Attention was uttered three times, then the voice began, the Government regrets having been forced to exercise with all urgency what it considers to be its rightful duty, to protect the population by all possible means in this present crisis, when something with all the appearance of an epidemic of blindness has broken out, provisionally known as the white sickness, and we are relying on the public spirit and cooperation of all citizens to stem any further contagion, assuming that we are dealing with a contagious disease and that we are not simply witnessing a series of as yet inexplicable coincidences.


The unanticipated and unforeseen events often strike us when we least expect them to, so much so that those could afflict you in the middle of a ride, which is still explicable. It could be one of those serendipitous and arbitrary events which happen in life but to find that you are not alone to be 'blessed' with such a travesty could numb your senses and send our entire existence for a toss, all your morals and ethics, essentially everything what life comprises of, may be gaping at you with an unfathomable existential horror. While the world is still grappling with dread of the CoVID-19, struggling hard with its all might to come to terms with the pandemic which is however yet in its embryonic phase, I noticed that quite a few people found somewhat declining fascination for dystopian, post-apocalyptic books coming to life with up surging beguile, I too found myself caught entwined with allure of the same. Though I have a bit of luxury in options- The Plague by Albert Camus and 1984 by George Orwell, to name a few- but Blindness made itself popped up out of sea of indecisiveness with eruption of glamour, the fact that Jose Saramago’ s world have been still elusive to me, must have played a part in it. The flipping through the very first pages sends an eerie glimpse of what the book might hold in wholeness. There is an inexplicable utter chaos which announces itself through horrific disorder of humanity, the existence of human beings is reduced to just numbers (quite similar to what we are witnessing in CoVID-19); the consciousness of individual dies out in the wake of retaining the ‘society’, but those who are renouncing their beings, ostensibly not by choice, do not have their desire in it, which is otherwise not required as it is for amelioration of humanity, some of them could be burned in the fire of hell of nothingness to save all, the unrealized beings of them gaze with delusive hope, only to become one with hell. Ah! what could it be?


Blindness, it is, or is it really? We have been brought up with the notion of blindness in which a person loses its ability to see things as they are, more often than not it reveals out empathy and compassion from us. But could Blindness draw out baffling horror out of humanity, perhaps if it succeeds in showing the ignominy of humanity to itself; probably that’s what Jose Saramago has been able to achieve with this masterpiece. It just holds an inhuman mirror which shows humiliation of entire humanity, the farcicality of civilization to reveal our savage and primitive nature hidden under its inauthentic sheath of comfort, which is stripped down to rags of acrid and stifling truth, however appalling it may be. We invariably boast about feathers we have been able to add in the crown of humanity, over the years of civilization, but have we really moved a bit, transformed a bit from what we were, Jose Saramago shattered such notions, if any, with disdain; but perhaps that is how we really are, the ghastly image he shows us is probably we are essentially.



Saramago invites us to his fantastical world, which has only one order that there are no orders- social or natural, with a shattering shriek as drivers of one of the vehicles in a seemingly ordered assortment of automobiles watches in horror as his eyes go white, everything they could perceive to send visual signals to the brain is white as if he has been thrown in a sea of white, quite unusual, earthly improbable, the mayhem follows, welcome to the world of Saramago. The omnipotent blindness, as contagious as any influenzas on the planet could be, engulfs the entire world of the author, but is it just the influenza or it hides something else, more profound, more concrete underneath it, doesn’t it talk about shallowness of our orderly society, the feebleness of our standards.

…..Anyone who is going to die is already dead and does not know it, That we're going to die is something we know from the moment we are born, That's why, in some ways, it's as if we were born dead, …….


The author handpicks around half a dozen characters and they have been quarantined in an abandoned military establishment, wherein they are left to themselves, their lives have been totally cut off from the outer world. Their existence has been suspended between being and nothingness, as if it doesn’t matter to those who are still considered civilized, but yet to be thrown in the hell of nothingness. The life of the quarantine camp briskly degenerates into an existential hell where the blind are victimized first by the way they have been rounded up and shoved into what was a mental hospital, after that they are not given proper food either, and most appallingly by how they are reduced in their attempt to stay alive. We see new sort of barter system in the camp, which eventually takes inhumane form as human beings are demanded in return of food. The dangled and unfulfilled existence of these characters takes us through the manifold possibilities of human wickedness wherein they have been reduced to just vermin who do not have say in the social order of humanity as if their existence is just an apparition, so much so that they have not been even given names, just referred by their professions or relations. However, they are still alive and as human as anyone could be but the society becomes oblivious to their existence. Could they spring their unfulfilled existences back from the hell of nothingness or they would be crushed down under the humongous pressure of disarray, indifference, contempt and atrocities committed by the orderly world.


Life as we know it, could be changed with the rules of nature, our society, our morals, ethics may not stand the savage duress of existence. It is not just the world out there which the inhabitants of the quarantine center have to take care of, we have witnessed on numerous occasions in the history of human civilization that whenever humanity is stretched to its inhumane limit, horrendous activities take birth, the social orders go for a toss, the primitive, archaic human instincts come to play and the world of Saramago is no exception either. We witness perhaps all possible horrendous and grisly acts of humanity, unfortunately as we are not blind, our eyeballs move as swiftly they could to watch murder, thefts and rapes; tears may flow down as a stream of water from those but perhaps our own shame keeps them withhold. The characters of Saramago struggle with their need to connect with one another, form relations and bond as a community, and also with their need for individuality, there is a ever going tussle between individuality and community.

……. we went down all the steps of indignity, all of them, until we reached total degradation, the same might happen here albeit in a different way, there we still had the excuse that the degradation belonged to someone else, not now, now we are all equal regarding good and evil, please, don't ask me what good and what evil are, we knew what it was each time we had to act when blindness was an exception, what is right and what is wrong are simply different ways of understanding our relationships with the others, not that which we have with ourselves, one should not trust the latter, forgive this moralising speech, you do not know, you cannot know, what it means to have eyes in a world in which everyone else is blind, I am not a queen, no, I am simply the one who was born to see this horror, you can feel it, I both feel and see it, ………….


The author has been able to create here an alternate reality without touching the easily sought after characteristics of science fiction, he doesn’t dive into any parallel universes, instead he just shows a world which is so strange by the word go, yet so much our own world; it takes us to the uncomfortable and unwanted recess of our memory and imagination however it is always there, which shows the ability of the author. The book is more like a philosophical treatise, without being pedantic, on human existence which shows us our own fragility and fallibility through dismantling our society, crumbling our civilization to nothing. The things which we have amassed and hard earned over the years as a reward to swank our so-called hard work to categorized those as luxuries, which only distinctive could afford, are reduced to just basic things of necessity, even some of those glorified and proudly gloated things become useless as life come back to basic needs of survival.

…���.. We are so afraid of the idea of having to die, said the doctor's wife, that we always try to find excuses for the dead, as if we were asking beforehand to be excused when it is our turn,……..


Do we have any hope then? Perhaps we do, otherwise we may not be reading this great piece of literature after progressing through so many hideous acts- genocides, wars, rapes, murders etc.- in our own history of civilization. Hope is a necessary evil, which instills confidence in you to move forward, though it may be shallow and baseless at times and that is all sometimes we need to put forth through madness of humanity. Saramago doesn’t disappoint you here either. The major characters of Saramago braved themselves to last extend of their perseverance, which comes out to be most essential of human qualities needed for survival, to remain afloat in this sea of white nothingness.



The prose of Saramago is peculiar and inimitable with unique innovations one might come across. He takes movement of post-modernism to a different level altogether thereby constructing many long, breathless sentences, some of those may even go for more than a page, in which commas take place of periods, quotation marks, semicolons and colons. I have found something which one of its kind as far as narrative style of the book is concerned wherein narrative shift in the voices of characters may be identified with fist capital letter of the phrase, which may not be discernible immediately. The characters are referred to by descriptive appellations such as "the doctor's wife", "the car thief", or "the first blind man". Given the characters' blindness, some of these names seem ironic ("the boy with the squint" or "the girl with the dark glasses"), his style reflecting the recurring themes of identity and meaning, showing the imbecility and impotence of the existence of the characters. There is omniscient third person narrator amidst the changing but reliable narrative voices who, at times, tries to pull the reader into narrative showing glimpses of metafiction.




Saramago has used quite intelligently one of the characters to infuse intrusive narration through “the doctor’s wife” whose eye balls remain utilitarian throughout the madness of Blind people. She is an intelligent woman who full of survival instinct which is quintessential to exist in such mayhem. Gradually, she becomes “eye” to the main characters of the story as their existence become solely dependent on her will and act. What may appear a position of fortune is essentially an unfortunate gift to her in the city of Blind people as she has to witness all the horrors, horrific acts through her experienced but numb eyes. The doctor’s wife may also imply a type of internal narrator infused masterfully by the author to show the human virtues such as empathy, sympathy, co-ordination, assistance and perseverance amidst the madness of inhumanity.


One could not miss the ostensible impact of Franz Kafka on the prose of Jose Saramago, as his characters take the strange and outlandishly unusual events to be perfectly normal. In the start of the story itself, the sudden blindness of “the first blind man” reminds me of The Metamorphosis in which Gregor Samsa wakes up one day to find himself transformed in to vermin, and which he accepts as an ordinary situation. Like Kafka used to throw his characters into absurd and outlandish circumstances, Saramago uses the settings of the novel to bring out the most extreme reactions from the characters. Likewise, we see that Saramago, similar to Albert Camus , uses the social disintegration of people to the extreme to study the fragility of our vices and virtues.

And since disasters never come singly, at that same moment the electricians went blind who were responsible for maintaining the internal power supply and consequently that also of the generator, an old model, not automatic, that had long been awaiting replacement, this resulted, as we said before, in the elevator coming to a halt between the ninth and tenth floors.


It is like a social commentary using highly allegorical streamlined unique prose, as James Wood praises "the distinctive tone to his fiction because he narrates his novels as if he were someone both wise and ignorant", which may get sometimes a bit challenging to read due to its text having no quotation marks, no indentations when a speaker changes; however, if one could brave through initial pages then the book could not be put down. The book is highly enjoyable with traits of acerbic, ironical and wry humor through the existential horrors of life, dense but comprehensible, its impact is immediate and a reflection of the sensibility of Saramago, which is at once alive and significant.

……. , You mentioned that there are organised groups of blind people, observed the doctor, this means that new ways of living are being invented and there is no reason why we should finish up by being destroyed, as you predict, I don't know to what extent they are really organised, I only see them going around in search of food and somewhere to sleep, nothing more, We're going back to being primitive hordes, said the old man with the black eyepatch, with the difference that we are not a few thousand men and women in an immense, unspoiled nature, but thousands of millions in an uprooted, exhausted world, And blind, added the doctor's wife,……….

n  4.75/5n

Not at all disturbing, not at all compelling and not at all interesting, Jose Saramago's Blindness only succeeds in frustrating readers who take a moment to let their imagination beyond the page. Yes, Saramago's story is a clever idea, and, yes, he creates an intentional allegory to force us to think about the nature of humanity, but his ideas are clearly those of a privileged white male in a privileged European nation. Not only do his portrayals of women and their men fall short of the mark, but Saramago has clearly never had to fend for himself in the world. If he did, he'd realize that there were a thousand easy answers to the dilemmas he created for his characters, and he could have then focused more on the internal filth of their souls than the external excrement of their bodies. Blindness is not worthy of a Nobel Winner.

این کتاب روایت کوری عمیقی ست که گریبان گیر جامعه امروزی شده است_کوری از نوع مدرن و نه به شکل بدوی و تمثیلیی_کوری زمانی آغاز می شود که چشم هایمان را به روی حقیقت،عقل،عدالت و حقوق دیگران می بندیم و سطح فهم خود را تا روزمرگی نزول می دهیم و سرانجام ما، جز سقوط نیست.حینی که خرد اجتماعی زایل شود و دغدغه افراد بشر به سطحی ترین حد خود برسد،اپیدمی کوری همان سرنوشت نهایی است.
بسیاری از صحنه های داستان مانند تجاوز به زنان،دزدی و غارت،از بین رفتن احساس و عواطف انسانی،زورگویی به اقشارضعیف و...روایت های جدیدی نیستند و ما بارها با چشمانی سفید به آن نگریسته ایم بدون اینکه به درستی به آنها فکر کنیم و ساراماگو با تلفیق احساس و تفکر ما را وامی دارد تا اندکی از کوری خود بکاهیم.
'زن' شخص بینایی در جمع نابینایان است، که بر خلاف تصور عموم و مذهب و ادیان به جنس زن به عنوان منجی،راه را به سمت بینایی باز می کند.
《فکر نمی کنم ما کور شدیم،فکر می کنم ما کور هستیم،کور اما بینا،کورهایی که میتوانند ببینند اما نمیبینند》.

«E’ di questa pasta che siamo fatti, metà di indifferenza e metà di cattiveria»
Cecità non è un romanzo, è un esperimento mentale...che rende difficili le tue notti.
La paura che le scene descritte possano prendere forma al di fuori delle pagine del libro e coinvolgere anche te in quel mare bianco, non ti abbandona mai...
Ma soprattutto non ti abbandona il senso di disagio dovuto al fatto che Saramago sia riuscito, attraverso un racconto apparentemente "surreale", a raccontarci il mondo in cui viviamo, la sua ferocia, la sua indifferenza, una società, la nostra, in cui vige la legge del più forte...
La "cecita" di cui è impregnato il libro, infatti, non è tanto quella fisica, ma quella dell'animo...perché nel momento in cui si perde ogni forma di umanità, di compassione e di solidarietà, di rispetto per gli altri, ma anche verso se stessi, laddove l'egoismo più brutale e la violenza la fanno da padrone, per gli uomini non c'è più nulla, nessun futuro...è la fine, l'Apocalisse.
La scrittura di Saramago è ipnotica, fluida nonostante la mancanza di punteggiatura nei dialoghi diretti e la totale mancanza di nomi propri, ma è anche claustrofobica, fredda e analitica...non c'è traccia di "emozione" nelle sue parole, nessun balsamo per l'anima. Un romanzo di grande impatto emotivo che pullula di spunti di riflessione al di là del carattere fantasioso, che mette a nudo l'animo umano, scandagliando gli angoli più reconditi, soffocante, potente, intimidatorio. Accecante, ma in grado di regalare visioni.

Puff... tela con la novela!! Me ha parecido brutal, muy buena!!

Iba a ciegas (nunca mejor dicho) y no me lo esperaba así, la verdad. Me ha tenido enganchada de principio a fin.

Obra de ficción en la que la población se va quedando ciega. Una "ceguera blanca" que se contagia rápidamente y se va extendiendo sin poderse evitar.
Y en un mundo donde nadie ve, cómo sobrevivir, cómo convivir, qué se puede hacer?? Y poco más se puede decir de la trama, hay que adentrarse.

La novela refleja esto, cómo se comportarían los humanos ante una situación tan límite, hasta dónde aguantaríamos, hasta dónde podríamos llegar. Afloran toda clase de reacciones y sentimientos posibles (el miedo, la solidaridad, el amor, la maldad, la violencia extrema, el odio, la rivalidad,...); en realidad, la pura y dura supervivencia en un mundo atroz y desolador.
La trama tiene capítulos donde se aborda lo peor del ser humano. Las descripciones de los lugares son tan explícitas que generan rechazo y repugnancia. La primera parte del libro es realmente agobiante e incómoda de leer para pasar a una segunda en la que todo es un poco más relajado y consigues respirar un poco de optimismo.

Y así contando parece una novela a rechazar. A mí me ha parecido brutal la forma en que el escritor te envuelve en este mundo nauseabundo y apocalíptico. Esos diálogos escritos todos seguidos, sin guiones, dentro del párrafo, teniendo que releer para ver quién dice qué (en nada te acostumbras) y hace que te pegues aun más a la trama. Esos personajes sin nombre que los conoces de sobra y no te interesa cómo se llaman sino cómo viven (el médico, la mujer del médico, la chica de las gafas oscuras, el niño estrábico,...) y que les pasará. "Los ciegos no necesitan nombre, yo soy esta voz que tengo, lo demás no es importante".

En fin, historia apocalíptica que saca lo peor y lo mejor del ser humano y te hace reflexionar en cómo reaccionaríamos ante una situación tan extrema; si en el fondo no somos más que animales, yo tengo fe en que no.
Novela que te puede fascinar o no. A mí sí.

"Si pudieras ver tú lo que yo estoy obligada a ver, querrías ser ciego".
"La ceguera también es esto, vivir en un mundo donde se ha acabado la esperanza".

Σκληρές οι αλήθειες του "Περί τυφλότητος" και αξίζει να τις διαβάσει κανείς για να κατανοήσει την ανθρώπινη φύση. Σε πολλά σημεία σε σοκάρει, σε προβληματίζει αλλά σε πολλά σημεία σε κάνει και να αναρωτηθείς "Θα ήμασταν όντως τόσο κτήνη;". Κάποια θεματάκια τα είχα με τα στερεότυπα που προβάλλονται, αλλά ο λόγος έρεε εύκολα, αν και έκανα κάποιο καιρό να συνηθίσω τον τρόπο γραφής.

Empiezo a tener claro que a José Saramago no le gustaba la humanidad. O, en todo caso, no tenía mucha fe en ella. Sus obras son desoladoras, pero no precisamente por el contexto en el que las enmarca (en este caso, una pandemia de ceguera que empieza a afectar a toda la población), sino por el exhaustivo análisis humano y social que realiza con cada uno de sus personajes. Saramago siempre nos pone contra las cuerdas, nos lleva directos al límite de la moralidad y, cuando estamos ahí, fracasamos estrepitosamente.

Ensayo sobre la ceguera, una de las obras más populares y laureadas del autor, pone el punto de partida en la inexplicable ceguera repentina de un conductor mientras espera en un semáforo. Esta pérdida de visión se irá replicando en otros individuos a medida que tienen contacto entre ellos, por lo que se tendrán que tomar medidas urgentes para que la situación no se transforme en una catástrofe social.

Esta ceguera es el hilo conductor de la novela, que privará de visión a la sociedad y la convertirá en una masa de seres perdidos en la oscuridad, enfrentándose a su propia vulnerabilidad y a las facetas más sombrías de su existencia. Sus personajes, sin nombres ni apenas rasgos distintivos (más allá de meras generalidades que intensifican la insignificancia del individuo), se vuelven arquetipos de la condición humana. A medida que la ceguera avanza, las estructuras sociales y morales se desmoronan, dejando al descubierto la verdadera naturaleza del ser humano. Una naturaleza salvaje y despiadada, de la que el autor es plenamente consciente al atribuir en varias ocasiones acciones animales a estos seres humanos.

Con una prosa excepcional, madura y sumamente particular, Saramago vuelve a dividir su obra en dos mitades, de manera similar a lo que ocurría en n  Las intermitencias de la muerten, aquí quizás de forma más natural. Su estilo, marcado por la ausencia de diálogos y una falta de puntuación convencional, crea una atmósfera completamente opresiva y claustrofóbica. Las palabras fluyen sin interrupción, como un torrente de conciencia colectiva del que no se puede escapar.

Saramago se propone encontrar una mínima belleza entre la gran inmensidad de miseria humana que describe. Sin embargo, hay pasajes terroríficos en los que el lector pierde completamente la fe y reniega de cualquier posible futuro civil. La lucha por la supervivencia y los dilemas éticos se entrelazan en una danza desesperada (y, en ocasiones, macabra) que, a veces, decidimos obviar y apartar la mirada. Cegarnos. Querer no ver.

Ensayo sobre la ceguera es un recordatorio impactante de la capacidad del ser humano para la bondad y la crueldad, e insta a reflexionar sobre el verdadero significado de la humanidad en un mundo que a menudo está sumido en la oscuridad, o en la ceguera. Una absoluta obra maestra.

رواية رمزية عميقة كتبت بذكاء وبراعة .. فكل شخصية وكل حدث في الرواية هو رمز أو إشارة لفكرة ما.

بلدة يصاب كل سكانها بالعمى ماعدا إمراة واحدة .. تقود هذه المرأة مجموعة من العميان وتستطيع أن تدبر هربهم من المحجر الذي تم إحتجازهم فيه ثم تتولى شؤونهم بعد ذلك حتى يستردوا بصرهم.

العمى في هذه الرواية يرمز للجهل والتخلف والمراة المبصرة ترمز للعلم والمعرفة .. ومن خلال الرواية يرسل جوزيه ساراماجو رسالة مفادها أن تفشي الجهل في المجتمعات يؤدي إلى إنتشار الفوضى والهمجية في كل شئ وإلى سعى الناس وراء غرائزهم دون أي رادع أو وعي بعواقب الأمور .. أما بالعلم فيستطيع الإنسان إدراك حقيقة أموره والتفكير بمنهجية تمكنه من حل مشاكله وتحقيق أهدافه والتخطيط لمستقبله.

من اجمل الإقتباسات في الرواية:
- شكرا لتجربة الحياة القاسية المعلم الأساسي لكل الإنضباطات.
- العمى هو أيضا أن تعيش في عالم انعدم فيه الأمل.
- الإحساس بالمسؤولية هو النتيجة الطبيعية للرؤيا الواضحة.

Ένας άντρας γυρίζει με το αυτοκίνητο από τη δουλειά. Σταματά στο κόκκινο φανάρι. Όταν το φανάρι γίνεται πράσινο εκείνος δεν ξεκινά. Είχε τυφλωθεί. Ήταν ο πρώτος τυφλός.
Έτσι στα ξαφνικά χωρίς λόγο κι αιτία ξεκινά μια επιδημία τύφλωσης, μια τύφλωση που δεν είναι μαύρη αλλά λευκή. Κι έτσι ξεκινά ο φόβος και ο πανικός και τα ένστικτα για επιβίωση να υπερτερούν της λογικής. Το περι τυφλότητος είναι μια μελέτη της ανθρώπινης συμπεριφοράς και αντίδρασης. Τι θα έκανες αν από τη μια στιγμή στην άλλη έπαυες να βλέπεις; Αν ξαφνικά αντί για χρώματα, πρόσωπα εικόνες, αντικείμενα το μόνο που μπορούσες να δεις είναι το απόλυτο λευκό; Τι θα συνέβαινε αν μέσα σε λίγες μέρες όλοι η ανθρωπότητα μετατρέπονταν σε έναν κόσμο τυφλών; Για πόσο θα κατάφερνες να επιβιώσεις; Και με τι επιπτώσεις; Και τι θα έκανες αν μέσα σε αυτό τον κόσμο των τυφλών ήσουν ο μόνος που έβλεπε;

Γραμμένο με έναν τρόπο κι ένα ύφος που σε κάνει να νιώθεις εγκλωβισμένος. Με κάποιο τρόπο αυτή την τυφλότητα των χαρακτήρων σου την περνούσε. Μπορεί να μην “έβλεπες” το λευκό που έβλεπαν αυτοί, αλλά μια θολούρα, σαν να μην υπήρχαν περιγράμματα, σαν οι μορφές να ήταν ακαθόριστες και τα χρώματα θαμπά. Περιοριστικό και κλειστοφοβικό. Ή έτσι τουλάχιστον το ένιωσα εγώ.
Τρομακτικό με τον τρόπο του. Μου άρεσε πολύ!


“Νομίζω ότι δεν τυφλωθήκαμε, νομίζω ότι είμαστε τυφλοί, Τυφλοί που βλέπουν, Τυφλοί που δεν βλέπουν, κι ας βλέπουν.”

Ερώτηση κρίσεως: Ποιο είναι το πιο σημαντικό πράγμα όταν διαβάζεις ένα βιβλίο; Το timing φίλε μου… η φάση που βρίσκεσαι όταν το διαβάζεις … εάν έχεις φάει μόλις τη χυλόπιτα της ζωής σου, πώς να διαβάσεις ένα βιβλίο ερωτικόν; Πώς να διαβάσεις ένα δυστοπικό βιβλίο όταν εδώ και δυο χρόνια ζεις σ’ένα δυστοπικό περιβάλλον; Τι παραπάνω να σου προσφέρει;
Το «περί τυφλότητος» του Σαραμάγκου είναι ένα δυστοπικό βιβλίο… έτσι μια μέρα ξαφνικά, οι άνθρωποι μιας πόλης αρχίζουν και τυφλώνονται… μια τύφλωση περίεργη που δεν τα βλέπεις όλα μαύρα κι άραχνα αλλά άσπρα ξέξασπρα κι απ’τον ήλιο ξεξασπρότερα… κι επειδή η τύφλωση είναι άκρως μεταδοτική, τα υπόλοιπα τα φαντάζεστε ή μάλλον πλέον τα ξέρετε… καραντίνες, φόβος, επιθετικότητα, κοινωνική απομόνωση… μέχρι που όλοι τυφλώνονται και δεν υπάρχει κανείς για να λειτουργήσει η κοινωνία.
Ο Σαραμάγκου ξεδιπλώνει όλο τον ψυχισμό των ανθρώπων σε μια τέτοια ακραία κατάσταση. Γίνεσαι διάολος ή άγγελος; Εγκληματίας ή αισθηματίας; Πρέπει να κοιτάξεις την πάρτη σου για να επιβιώσεις. Όμως για να επιβιώσεις πρέπει να γίνεις μέλος μιας ομάδας. Και πως κοιτάς την πάρτη σου όταν είσαι μέλος ομάδας; Τέτοια ωραία, ψυχοπονιάρικα, φιλοσοφικά και ψυχοπλακωτικά.
Κι επειδή υπάρχει κι η εξαίρεση που επιβεβαιώνει τον κανόνα… εάν γίνεις εσύ η εξαίρεση… να βλέπεις σ’έναν κόσμο τυφλών… ευχή ή κατάρα;
Αναμφίβολα ο Σαραμάγκου είναι ο Σαραμάγκου… όμως εδώ το ύφος του μου φάνηκε ολίγον διαφορετικό. Δεν βρήκα εκείνες τις μεγάλες δαιδαλώδεις προτάσεις του… πιο ήπιες, πιο κοφτές. Εντάξει, μην παίρνετε και πολύ αέρα, για Σαραμάγκου μιλάμε πάντα… απλώς αντί για μια σελίδα μια πρόταση, έχουμε μια σελίδα τρεις προτάσεις. Επίσης η συνεχής επανάληψη, της λέξης «τυφλός», «τυφλός», «τυφλός», ήταν too much.
Κι ήταν το θέμα βαρύ, κι οι περιγραφές ζωντανές, και το αίσθημα πνιγηρό κι οι συνειρμοί τόσο δυνατοί, τι τυφλότητα – τι κορωνοϊός, τι Λωζάνη – τι Κοζάνη, χιόνια μια και χιόνια η άλλη, και να το άτιμο το timing και μπούκωσα κι οι σελίδες δεν έφευγαν γρήγορα, σαν τρένο για τα Παλιοφάρσαλα, που θες να κατέβεις αλλά αυτή η πνιγηρή γεμάτη καπνούς ατμόσφαιρα σ’έχει ζαλίσει και δεν θες να την εγκαταλείψεις…
Από τις πιο δυνατές σκηνές του βιβλίου, η σκηνή με τις γυναίκες (όποιος το διάβασε, θα καταλάβει, ας μην σποϊλιεράσω σήμερα…)
Αυτό το βιβλίο κατά ένα μεταφυσικό τρόπο, δεν με γέμισε εικόνες αλλά μυρωδιές. Σαν να κατάφερε ο Πορτογάλος, να κάνει τον αναγνώστη να μην βλέπει όπως ακριβώς οι ήρωες του αλλά να αναπτύξει τις άλλες αισθήσεις του. Μύρισα κάθε εικόνα του βιβλίου, την μπόχα που έζεχνε η πόλη την νιώθω ακόμα στη μύτη και στη γλώσσα μου…
Ειλικρινά δεν ξέρω τι αντίκτυπο θα είχε αυτό το βιβλίο εάν το διάβαζα προ covid… τώρα με μπούκωσε και ψάχνω για κάτι πιο ανάλαφρο…

n  

“I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.”

nJosé Saramago’s Blindness can be viewed as an allegory for a world where we see but in fact neglect what is around us. It is a human condition, unquestionable a disease that in contemporary time has only agravated.

"..blindness is also this, to live in a world where all hope is gone."

Blindness is more than a dystopian novel, it is a philosophical work that makes us wonder about our way of living. Moreover, it brings forth the horrifying truth of how the loss of only one sense can almost instantly dismantle our society, our civilization crumbles to nothing. People are reduced to living in unimaginable filth and rummaging for food and water like animals.
n  

"We're going back to being primitive hordes, said the old man with the black eyepatch, with the difference that we are not a few thousand men and women in an immense, unspoiled nature, but thousands of millions in an uprooted, exhausted world, And blind, ..."

nSo, it is all about being human, with its own fundamental virtues and vices. In a world without vision only our voices remain. A revolution, you could say: people are no longer identified by their appearances, now worthless. Outward values are replaces by what kind of person each one is. Social statuses as we knew them are no more. And in a new disorganized world:
n  

"There must be a government, said the first blind man, I'm not so sure, but if there is, it will be a government of the blind trying to rule the blind, that is to say, nothingness trying to organize nothingness. Then there is no future..."

nSaramago’s work reminded me of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, both are about the crumbling of our civilization as we know it. Blindness is a masterpiece and an important reminder for us to be appreciative of several things that we take for granted, to look around and really see. Without an honest and accurate vision our very existence can disintegrate.
___

I finished this masterpiece last week and I let it to sink in a little bit before reviewing it. The power of this book was quite overwhelming at times and I had to stop reading for a few days at a time. I do not think there are many books that disturbed me like this one. Maybe Never Let Me Go but there the message was much more subtle.

Some say that the structure of the book makes it very hard to read. I suppose the voice in my head did quite a good job in reading it as I did not encounter any difficulty to follow the narration. What made it difficult to read at times were the images and smells that were projected into my brain. At some point It seemed that excrement odor was rising from the pages in front of me.

Short version of the plot. One day people start to go blind without any prior symptom. Frightened, the Government tries to restrain the blindness epidemic by isolating the blind people. The quarantine is not successful and more and more people go blind. The book focuses on the life of a few "patients" locked and guarded into a mental institution, among who lives the only person immune to blindness. The loss of sight reduces people to their primal instincts (good or bad) and soon we are witnesses of some unimaginable horrors in the fight for food/supremacy/life and to the demise of all social and moral institutions. However, there are people that still try to help and to keep a bit of humanity and decency.

“If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals.”

I thought that the book is a metaphor of the people that are walking through life without thinking about the violence and cruelty that is in front of them, their ignorance of anything that could menace their civilized life. I believe the book brings forward our fear/avoidance to see our mortality and the insignificance of our lives.

“I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.”

“Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.”

“This is the stuff we’re made of, half indifference and half malice.”