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Called 'the book lost and found in time' by its author, Skylight is one of Saramago's earliest novels. The manuscript was lost in the publishers' offices in Lisbon for decades, and is only now being published in English.
Lisbon, late-1940s. The inhabitants of an old apartment block are struggling to make ends meet. There's the elderly shoemaker and his wife who take in a solitary young lodger; the woman who sells herself for money, clothes and jewellery; the cultivated family come down in the world, who live only for each other and for music; and the beautiful typist whose boss can't keep his eyes off her. Poisonous relationships, happy marriages, jealousy, gossip and love - Skylight brings together all the joys and grief of ordinary people.
About the author
José Saramago, geboren am 16. November 1922 in Azinhaga in der portugiesischen Provinz Ribatejo, entstammt einer Landarbeiterfamilie. Nach dem Besuch des Gymnasiums arbeitete er als Maschinenschlosser, technischer Zeichner und Angestellter. Später war er Mitarbeiter eines Verlags und Journalist bei verschiedenen Lissabonner Tageszeitungen. Ab 1966 widmete er sich verstärkt der Schriftstellerei. Während der Salazar- Diktatur gehörte er zur Opposition. Der Romancier, Erzähler, Lyriker, Dramatiker und Essayist erhielt 1998 den Nobelpreis für Literatur. Er starb am 18. Juni 2010 auf Lanzarote.
Report
A fluid and imaginative translation by Margaret Jull Costa... A masterly creation: pessimistic without being bleak, lyrical without being sentimental... Saramago tears back that curtain to reveal not only the stage on which life is performed but also backstage, under unflattering working lights; to show humanity at its most anxious, its most vulnerable and most true James Runcie Independent
