Between reality and absurd

A literary analysis of the critical notes of Death with interruptions by José Saramago

Abstract

This article aims to identify some critical aspects, represented through the inverted topos of the world, in Death with interruptions by José Saramago. The narrative of the novel presents an unusual fact: the disappearance of death. Faced with this absurd event, the characters present an energetic and euphoric state with the prospect of living in eternity, however, it is at this moment that the expectations narrated in the work are fractured, since they faced the continuity of the problematic aspects inherent to the human being: old age, illness, the omission of institutions and, finally, the narcissistic character of man. In consideration of this, for the accomplishment of the literary analysis of this study it was subsidized by the theoretical dialogue with the authors: Ariès (2012), Becker (1973), Bloom (2005), Berman (1986), Berrini (1998), Calbucci (1999), Gerth (1977), Hodgart (1969), Huizinga (2015) and Soethe (1998). In short, the investigation of this study suggests as a result the use of particularly expressive resources, such as the world upside down, for critical comments in the construction of the saramaguian narrative, with a view to carrying out social complaints.