The theory of carnivalization and the novel Blindness – or why read Saramago

Abstract

For a reflective reading of the works of José Saramago, especially the novels written from Raised from the Ground to Blindness, the theory of carnivalization (an element of the novelistic genre, according to the studies of Mikhail Bakhtin) constitutes an indispensable instrument. In these novels, the Marxist theory of language, developed by the Russian philosopher, articulates with the ideological purposes of the prose of the celebrated Portuguese writer. This article aims to analyze the carnivalization in Blindness: the story of an unprecedented epidemic outbreak that leads a population to blindness, except for a woman who, not by chance, is the wife of an ophthalmologist. Through the voice of the omniscient narrator, characteristic of José Saramago, and through the perspective of the doctor’s wife, events are narrated that, for a more discerning reader, point to a second voice, to a non-finalizing dialogue, that gives rise to a second interpretation. even more revealing, which is related to the concept of dialogism. With the turn of the 21st century, Bakhtin and the theory of carnivalization seem to have been superseded by postmodern currents; however, Saramago remains a Marxist, which justifies an investigation into carnival aspects in his work.