José Samarago

was born 1922 in Azinhaga, in the province of Ribatejo, Portugal. The author lives on the Canary Islands. After trying different jobs in the civil service, Saramago worked for a publishing company for twelve years and then for newspapers, at one time as assistant editor of Diário de Notícias, a position he was forced to leave after the political events in November 1975. In 1969 he joined the then illegal Communist Party, in which however he has always adopted a critical standpoint. Between 1975 and 1980 Saramago supported himself as a translator but since his literary successes in the 1980s he has devoted himself to his own writing.

He has published plays, short stories, novels, poems, libretti, diaries, and travelogues. His first novel, Manual de Pintura e Caligrafia: romance, appeared in 1977. Among his other works are O evangelho segundo Jesus Cristo: romance, 1991 and Todos os nomes: romance, 1997. Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998.

Articles

Die Glocken der Gerechtigkeit

Zum Abschluss des Forums von Porto Alegre

Vierhundert Jahre liegen zwischen der Aktion eines Bauern aus der Umgebung von Florenz, der die Glocken läuten ließ, um den Tod der Gerechtigkeit zu verkünden, und dem Erstarken der Bewegung für eine andere Art der Globalisierung. Dennoch geht für José Saramago der Vorstoß in die gleiche Richtung: Das sagte der portugiesische Schriftsteller und Nobelpreisträger am 19. Januar 2002 anlässlich einer Versammlung von sechstausend Globalisierungsgegnern in Paris. Der Text dieser Rede wurde auch auf der Abschlussveranstaltung des Weltsozialforums in Porto Alegre am 5. Februar verlesen.

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