"Blind but seeing"

After what seems to have been a very long time, I finally finished Jose Saramago's Blindess. This is the first in his cycle of allegorical works (as opposed to his historical novels), which have since been followed by All the Names, The Cave, and, most recently, The Double. In this extraordinary novel, the world's population, we are to believe, has been stricken with a "white blindness," the whole world with the exception of one woman, around whom the narrative more or less centres. She is the only witness to the depravations, indignities, and the utter chaos into which the world has plunged after only a short period of time. We follow the "doctor's wife" (none of the characters are given names; they are known only by some distinguishing feature or trait) as she leads a small group of those afflicted early in the pandemic, attempting to ensure that they not only survive the ordeal, but make it through with their humanity intact. Not an easy task.

While some have suggested that it the book can be looked at as a "magic realist" fantasy, along the lines of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this book is an allegory. While there is a great deal of ambiguity about Saramago's intentions - details about the exact temporal and geographic setting are leftout, the best we can guess is that it takes place in an affluent, Western city, some time in the latter part of the 20th Century - but knowing a little about his personal politics (a card-carrying Communist), which informs his work certainly leads us to a slightly better understanding. In his own words:

Blindness is a metaphor for the blindness of human reason. This is a blindness that permits us, without any conflict, to send a craft to Mars to examine rock formations on that planet while at the same time allowing millions of human beings to starve on this planet. Either we are blind, or we are mad.(Interview in The Paris Review)

Like All the Names (and, as I understand it) other works, this book is not devoid of hope. Even when it seems that there is no hope for humanity, there are those who struggle to keep their dignity, their humanity, and to struggle to help those who are most dependent.

I highly recommend this book. Don't get put off by the stream-of-consciousness style of writing Saramago employs - with the dialogue of multiple parties in the same, large paragraphs and divided only with commas and capital letters. You will quickly get used to it and you will get caught up in the story and in the exceptional way it is told. Then go and read All the Names which, in my opinion, is even better.
rgsc