"Pilar." "We'll meet elsewhere." "For Pilar, who had not yet been born and took so long in coming in Small memoirs" "Well..." "Different times all have something good... and something bad about them..." "But as a community, the human species is a disaster." "A disaster!" "So, it's hard to say, that the past was better." "Fear?" "Nothing... nothing..." "No... no..." "I don't like it at all, of course, obviously." "And now, well, at my age..." "When, let's say that everything's clear that the exit is right here," "No..." "I'm not frightened of..." "No." "But one thing I really don't like at all is when people say..." ""ahh, to be alive and die and all that..."" "For me, death is..." "I don't know what awaits us, or as I'm about to die... how I'll understand it..." "But for me, death right now is the difference between having been and being no more." "This is what..." "that is what really bothers me." "You're welcome Pepa, a big kiss and see you soon." "Bye, bye." "Thank you..." "José Saramago." "Portuguese Nobel prizewinner for Literature is concluding his novel "Small Memoirs"" "which will probably see the light of day in November." "Let us finish with a phrase of his, :" ""The history of man is the history of his not meeting with God." "Lanzarote" " Spain - 2006" "He doesn't understand us, we don't understand him"" "As always a great translation by Pilar del Río, whom I embrace." "And now, the best music." "A film by" "JOSÉ AND PILAR" "February 2nd 2006 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY" "I once wrote that everything is autobiographical." "That we all tell our story in everything we do and say, in our gestures, in the way we walk and look, how we turn our heads or pick something up from the ground." "I mean, we live surrounded by signs, we ourselves are a system of signs." "And be that as it may, for my readers to be at ease, this Narcissus who today contemplates himself in the water, will tomorrow destroy his own reflection with his own hand." "What is it?" ""Young Armani"." "When you get the chance, snip it out with some small scissors." "It's incredible!" "It's like a dream." " Goodbye Armani, goodbye." " Isn't that right?" "I still have to translate it, because I'm not really sure what it's about..." " I've read a bit and it is about..." " It's not that... no, it's not." "The book will be titled," ""The Elephant's Journey"." "It's not about the people who go with the elephant, who took him." " Of course." " It's the elephant." "And what does the elephant do all this time?" "It walks, walks, walks, trudges on and on, nothing else." "I still need more information, things which seem pretty silly, right?" "Are elephants like horses, do they sleep standing up?" " I don't have the slightest idea." " I never had an elephant." " Right." " And that's the problem right there." "It's the small things which seem so silly but which are vital." "There's an idea, but..." "It's very hard, very very hard." "Let's see, let's see..." "Let time pass, let things mature..." "And if it is meant to be, it will be, and if it isn't, it won't." "Period." "Pilar!" "Tell me, my dear." "I'm going home." "ACT I THE PREPARATION" "Let's see..." "No..." "No..." "A little trick here." "This one here and that one there." "This one's won!" "And then the cards..." "begin to dance... in arches." "It's funny, it's quite pretty." "It's good to keep Alzheimer at bay." "Supposing that Alzheimer had set in, I wouldn't be able to win this game, or any game." "Nice, isn't it?" ""Hello and good morning to our listeners in Portugal."" "José has a daughter called Violante, and two grandchildren, Tiago and Ana." "He also has a wife, with whom you're speaking, who is the oldest of 14 brothers and sisters." "This means that Saramago has a big family." "OK, bye, Lots of love, Paula." "Here's José." "Saramago's declarations in the end are so naive they're actually embarrassing." "If he was enchanted by the Nobel Prize..." "José Saramago owes it all to Portugal." "And he is no better than any other Portuguese person." "José Saramago did for the Portuguese language what many millions of citizens were unable to do..." "We are now reopening the forum in which we debate the controversy" "José Saramago has provoked because of his words..." "I really don't know what to say." "We'll say that..." "we are literature students and that is why we came to see him." "That our literary criticism teacher recommended we visit him." " We'll talk about how beautiful Lanzarote is." " Should we talk about literature?" " No." " We'll ask him to sign our books." "And we can ask him if he'll take a picture with us." " Good morning!" " Good morning!" "Sara." "Lucca." " Francesca." " Nice meeting you." "Alicia." "Well..." "What language shall we speak in?" " English, Italian." " A bit of Spanish." " French." " And a bit of French." "So, a bit of everything." "How's it going?" "We decided to come..." "So how are you coming along in Portuguese... the language and its literature?" "We went to the book fair in Turin, in May, to meet you..." "I have to go to Turin in September, the same time as an opera of mine, will be opening at La Scala..." "Not exactly an opera of mine, because I'm not a musician, of course." "Then this sense of wandering, through I don't know how many centuries, ever since Tirso de Molina, saying that" "Dom Giovanni is a scoundrel, mean, a bad person..." "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you all, and if you come back one day, you know." "I'll be here, waiting to have a coffee with you." "And how's Berlusconi doing?" "So so..." "Pilar." "I'm going home." "I mean, these texts are important, very important." "Bloom's presentation, Harold Bloom," "I'm not sure whether it's in Coimbra or New York..." "This is great:" "That "The Cave" was elected best whatever... we can save it or throw it away." " How did José learn English?" " Which unfortunately he doesn't..." " José doesn't know how to speak English." " No, we won't go..." "Either we won't answer, or we'll say we are unable to reply." "Say we can't, and that's that." "This is José!" "Jesus, he looks so thin!" "The title is "City of The Blind" from the "Essay"." "Sure..." "It's all in the mind of Man." "Is this really supposed to be a caricature of José?" "These are things of mine which I..." " We got a letter..." " Is it done?" "Print it." "Is it about the war?" "These are things which people make and send us." "It's amazing!" "I feel terrible tearing up what these people have made." "Food!" "Cod au gratin for 6..." "This we'll save." "With horrible letters, it depends..." "The horrible letters which are insulting go straight in the bin, but the ones which put forth an idea, we respect and reply." "Dear José Saramago, I would like to say that my father..." "My dear narrator, with all due respect to Pilar," "I would like to declare that you, José, are the most important, the ultimate man of my life..." "Sara Mago!" "Who is this lady?" "And what does she have against God?" "At your age, Sara, dear, you should start making peace with everyone..." "My birthday is also on November 16th." "And I always remember you when I'm blowing the candles." "Stupid, stupid, neurotic jerk!" "Too bad the inquisition isn't still around, you would have been publicly burned at the stake and I'd have watched from a front row seat!" "José, did you read the news about how they want to recreate the origin of the universe, in Switzerland?" "I don't know what's going to come of this experience..." "I hope they don't create another universe as bad as this one, or a planet as crazy as the one we live on." "...There'll be strong winds, up to 60km/h, fanning the flames maybe starting a new fire front." "Fear of war in the Caucasus has increased..." "February 4th." "We see the abyss, right in front of our eyes, and yet we head straight towards it, like a bunch of suicidal lemmings with the big difference that, on the way, we amuse ourselves, by slaughtering each other." "José, these are the books you have to write dedicatories for, and the owners will give them to me." "These are books that people, who know you're here, leave at the library." " We've come to this?" " Yeah..." "You have to do it otherwise they'll be asking:" ""Is my book ready?" "Is my book ready?"" "This is getting out of hand..." "Now comes the worst part." "I don't know where to begin!" "To preside over the official award ceremony..." "Pilar... no," "Which should be happening at the end of this June..." "We'll be in Japan." "Istanbul... has to be one weekend before the end of May." "Shit!" "A weekend, 2 or 3 days and that's it." "Saro, that agenda full of papers..." "Bring it here." "Hello, hello." "I mean, you come here and don't even greet the boss!" "What's all that about?" "How are you?" " That's it, Italy." " I don't know if it's worthwhile." "Going to Rome in December?" "As it's so far off still, we can say yes... and then look into it later." "This for example, they only want your support..." " It's so hot, my God!" " And what are they asking, dear?" " Support?" " Yes." "Maria Cortez, who is this woman?" "Makes no difference." ""What would happen if a man killed another with his... his seminal fluid, like poison..."" "This one's gay." "Are you going to read it?" "I should try to read these books but they're so thick..." "It's an association from Madrid that... has sent you a magazine for you to see what they're doing." "There you have it..." "all seen." "How am I supposed to write a preface for an installation, if I've never seen it?" " So, we'll say you can't." " No, let me answer this one." "Shit, I haven't had time to look into this." " It's the Dalai Lama..." " And what does the Dalai Lama want?" "To see if I want to be part of an honorary commission..." "He's not really much to my liking." "We could..." "No, I could write a letter saying;" ""My husband agrees to be part of the commission, but does the Dalai Lama know that Saramago is a communist?" "And that he doesn't believe in God, nor will he even begin to believe over the next 200 years?"" "And another pile here where we'll put all the Portuguese literature." "We've already put all the Central European literature there..." "February 9th" "At the front door, there is the container with the books which came from Lisbon." "Boxes and crates everywhere out of which comes an occasional forgotten object, as if somebody from back home had amused himself by hiding memories in the crates." "A murmur saying:" "We haven't forgotten you, so don't you forget us." "February 12." "Another dog showed up here around a month ago, we don't know where it came from, and nobody has come by to claim it so far." "Camões was a bit wary at first, perplexed by the intruder's small size." "March 21, we were all very glad thinking that maybe there'll be something by Siza Vieira here on Lanzarote." "It would be a good way to begin Portugal's re-conquest of the island." "March 31." "In front of the library, we planted an olive tree today" "I doubt that, in this climate, it'll ever attain the irradiant plentitude of the quince in Victor Erice's film "The Quince Tree Sun"." "May 2." "I began to write the story about the elephant." "WE ALWAYS ARRIVE AT THE PLACE WHERE WE ARE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE" "Giving time to time, everything in the universe fits together in the end." "And then there's the elephant." "Solomon had no idea of what was waiting for him." "Listen, I'm going to talk loudly because I don't know if you can hear me." "I can hardly hear you because of the construction noise here, which has been going on for I don't know how many months or years!" "They never seem to finish this library." "Listen, we're going to give José a surprise party for his 84th birthday in Azinhaga." "He doesn't know, but it'll be the presentation of his "Small Memoirs", not only in Portugal but in Spain as well, if I can finish the translation." "The village is called..." "shit!" "The village is called Azinhaga." "And it's been in the same place since the birth of the nation." "The house where I was born no longer exists, which doesn't mean much because I can't remember anything about ever having lived there anyway." "The regime was brought down, by a military coup as expected." "I am at a loss for words to describe that day, the troops, the combat vehicles, the happiness, the nervousness, the purejoy." "I am, at the moment, alone..." ""Manual of Painting and Calligraphy"" "I think this text is poorly translated," "I would never have translated it like this." ""Death with Interruption" "The Stone Raft"" ""All the Names", "The Gospel"." " Jesus dies... dies." " Jesus dies... dies." "When suddenly the sky is torn asunder, and above his head, God appears, his voice resounding across the land, you are my most beloved son, and in you I place all my complacency." "And Jesus then understood that he had been led on by error, led to the sacrifice like a lamb..." "That his life had been traced out beforehand from the beginning of the beginning for him to die like that." "From the beginning of the beginning..." "And he exclaimed at the open skies, where God was smiling down..." "Humankind," "Forgive him as he knows not what he does..." "It'sjust some tall tale, a huge hoax..." "I went to church once or twice when I was 6, but I didn't..." "I wasn't convinced at all." "And I went and told my mother, no," "I'm not going, I'm not going there." "I didn't go and I never went again." "I haven't had any religious crisis," "I'm not afraid of death," "I'm not afraid of Hell," "I'm not afraid of what you could call eternal damnation, because of sins which, what sins..." "What is all this about sin?" "Who was it who invented sin?" "Once somebody invented sin, the guy who invented it began to yield an instrument of dominion over others, a mighty instrument." "And that's what the church did." "But not so much anymore, poor guys, since they don't have half the power they used to." "It'sjust another farce, a tragic farce." "Where is God?" "They used to say he was in heaven, but heaven doesn't exist!" "There is no heaven!" "What is this "heaven"?" "There's only space." "For 13 thousand million light years." "Imagine... the limits of the universe can be found" "13 million 700 thousand light years away..." "Light years!" "Where's God?" "If you want to believe, believe and have done with it." "I say it loud and clear, that no, for me, no." "And remember, that 83 is a good age to begin thinking about the future, right?" "I mean, a guy can do a lot of stupid things in his life, say a lot of absurd things about the Lord, but when you get to be 83, you should begin to be a bit more careful" "about what you say." "But that doesn't change reality." "Reality continues the same as always." "We're born, we live, we die and that's it." "Nothing more." "I hope that this doesn't happen." "I hope I die lucid and with my eyes open." "At least that's the way I'd like it to be." "July 7th" "To feel that the end of each day is an irreparable loss." "That is probably what old age is all about." "One day the sun goes out and it's over." "And the universe wouldn't even know that we had ever existed." "The universe wouldn't even know that Homer had written The Iliad." "Jul 9th 2006 THE OPENING OF THE LIBRARY" "I would like to welcome you all to the library, which was born from a crazy idea, because, every time we needed a book at home, we'd have to go out and buy it, because we could" "never find it..." "It wasn't a crazy idea, it was the idea of a crazy person." "Well, it wasn't exactly like that, but it was nice of you to have applauded so much." "Not everyone here will be aware that João Afonso is the nephew of the great Zeca Afonso." "Being an artist's nephew doesn't mean much or maybe nothing at all..." "There's a family tie..." "Talk in Spanish!" "José, do you want me to do a simultaneous translation for you?" "You're speaking Portuguese." "Yes, I do that sometimes." "You should all learn!" "Not all of you here are aware..." "So far it's Spanish, right?" "Not all of you here are aware that João Afonso is the nephew of the great, unforgettable Zeca Afonso, but a sort of miracle of sound, of presence, of voice, look," "has been created here, which allows us to think, once in a while, that death doesn't exist." "And... nothing more." "The reception lasted 3 hours." "I was already tired of smiling, of the mental strain it took to sound intelligent." "The weather is cold." "Grey, overcast." "July 10th." "I climbed Blanca Mountain yesterday." "I remember thinking, while I was going up:" "If I fall here and get myself killed it's all over, no more books." "I was aware of time, and a book can take one or two years to write," "and you don't have that much time." "Yes?" "Hello, how are you?" "When are the direct flights to Lisbon?" "Which is best?" "Yes, because from here to Germany, there are flights all day and everyday." "And for which dates?" "But how can I leave Wednesday, if it's already the day after tomorrow?" "I don't believe it, I was talking with my mobile upside-down!" "No wonder I could hardly hear anything, and she couldn't hear me," "I was talking to her with it upside-down." "Please, could you..." "like this, and she was saying "I can't hear you"." "How funny." "...with the the representatives of the pilots' union, SECLA and the Transport Ministry to try and solve the conflict with Iberia..." "Oh well." "...to call off the strike planned for next Monday." "We have to go over my appointments." "See what we can take out..." "I have to tell you that I am less and less enthusiastic about presenting my book down at the village." "I mean, I don't even know anybody there anymore and each time that..." "But you don't do it for yourself, you do if for the village." "Why do I do it?" "You don't do it for yourself, you do it for the village." "It's a gift to the village..." "But the village..." "You make the village proud, like that day of the library." "The village will be enchanted, people will participate and you will make others talk about your village," "And they like this." "No." "Yes?" "Yes, the phrase for the monument..." "That's it, just a phrase, in honor of those killed in the Civil War." "When I was a kid," "I had this nightmare... terrible..." "Which went invariably something like this:" "I would find myself in closed quarters, with no door nor windows, in a triangular space..." "And I'd be at one of the triangle's vertices." "And on the other side, in the distance," "I could see something on the ground, something I could never make out clearly." "And this something, which could have been water on the ground, or a stone..." "Or all these at the same time, but nothing of the kind..." "It would begin to grow and there was a song, which I could never really make out either..." "And that something would grow, grow, grow... and there was no escape." "It would grow, grow, getting closer, closer... until, in the end, before it could suffocate me, I'd wake up." "The 6-day Iberia Airline pilots' strike is due to begin at midnight tomorrow, and 1,500 flights will be cancelled." "I ask the collaborators to reflect on this subject with me." "I present you Pilar del Rio, good morning Pilar." "Hello." "Good morning." "Pilar, you are one of those most deeply affected!" "Oh God!" "I have, next week, 11 flights in one week." "Then a strike is just the right thing for you, Pilar!" "You can get some rest." "Thank you so much," "I will now take my leave until next season." "15th July." "Inevitably I think about my book, "Small Memoirs", continually announced and postponed, which I'll say won't be a book of memoirs, but what I can say, is that "this is the memory I have of myself."" "ACT II THE JOURNEY" "Hours too slow." "Days too fast." "And we now go straight to Azinhaga, Barbara." "And we can see a few images now of Saramago's arrival." "November 16th 2006 JOSÉ'S BIRTHDAY" "With around 1000 people Gathered... applauding." "These people were not only local inhabitants, but guests as well..." "Pilar!" "When Pilar told me:" ""We're thinking of having your book launch in Azinhaga"" "I said:" ""Oh Pilar, don't do that."" "After all..." "I'll tell you something..." "I think that if there were fewer of you, I would have already started to cry." "But there are so many of you that I can't even cry." "I would like to inform you all that José Saramago will be seated at this table giving autographs and I ask you all to organize a line." "Otherwise, nobody will be able to get their book signed." "An old, abandoned factory which Saramago picked to hold his book launch..." "And more than one thousand people gathered, seated and standing around to see José Saramago up close, to hug him, kiss him, and, of course, to get their books signed, as can be seen by this long line, with hundreds of people..." "Has a cycle come to an end?" "Has the author returned to his origins, at 84?" "No." "I mean," "I'm not sure this ends a cycle." "We can only tell when a cycle has closed after it comes to an end." "And I'm not sure It has come to an end yet." "Dad, there are still a lot of people left." "Do you want to stop?" "There's no point stopping..." "J. Sicaia... could you write that?" " I'm not writing dedications." " I'm sorry," "Carry on, carry on..." "You have nothing to be sorry for." "It is I who must apologise, for things being like this, with so many people..." "If I were to write dedications the line would still be at the beginning." "A long life to you!" "Happy Birthday to you!" "Happy Birthday dear Saramago!" "A round of applause." "José, honey, go autograph your books." "I'll cut." "OK?" " Do you want anything to eat?" " No, thank you." "Go on, go sign your books." "Can I congratulate you?" "Congratulations, much happiness." "Thank you." "José Saramago has, at the moment, 450 books to sign..." "Our flight will last approximately 12 hours and we will be landing at 9:30, 6 hours behind local time." "Capital Radio," "Broadcasting from Guadalajara, Jalisco." "The news with Manolo Tavares." "We have in our country, right now, the Nobel prize-winning," "Portuguese writer, José Saramago, for the opening of the International Book Fair of Guadalajara, 2006" "The Author Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel prize winner for literature." "Author José Saramago, also a Nobel prize winner for literature." "José entered Granada led by the hand of love." "Where he came upon another enormity, the enormity of Pilar's family." "And, knowing Pilar as well as I do," "I am absolutely convinced, that there are two José Saramagos:" "One José Saramago before meeting Pilar, and another José Saramago after meeting Pilar." "Victory, victory, my part of the story is over." "I met this family... of 15 brothers and sisters." "And me, being this quiet man, silent, melancholic, a bit sad, as I describe myself, suddenly saw myself surrounded by 15 barbarians," "because they are barbarians, savages!" "How many nights that..." "I go to bed exhausted, convinced that I'll be able to sleep, and their voices follow me, bellowing from the kitchen..." "They are, though, all very fine people." "Do I only have five more minutes?" "First of all, nobody told me how many minutes I'd have!" "So they can't come and tell me now I only have five minutes left." "They'll have to wait." "I'll ask you if you've left anything out, because as a reporter they tell me:" ""Declaration of the Third World War, in 30 seconds"," "And so, if you are in a hurry, I'll help you." "If it were you sitting here we'd all be out on the street by now." "We have more time!" "And what do we have now?" "Let's talk about the play" "THEATER ADAPTATION DEATH WTH INTERRUPTIONS about the reading in two voices the day after tomorrow." "Introduce yourselves." "I'm afraid it'll be too much, I see so many pages here." "The play is a recital..." "you don't have to memorise it" "This is what the tow of us were supposed to do." "The person who copied it didn't understand it." "Alright José." "We've got to... who reads it?" "Or isn't it read?" "José, we'll see about that later..." "What time did we say our meeting was this afternoon?" "3:30." "We'll talk to the director at 3:30." "OK?" "The guy who conceived the whole thing." "You called me here for a work meeting and I'm..." "No, no, only for us to see about the time..." " To schedule the rehearsals." " It's the schedule for the rehearsals." "As this worries me, it is only natural that I say something." "Of course." "But if this isn't the right time, I won't say anything more." "Each one of us knows our part and it'd be better if we didn't interfere with other people's territory." "But I don't want to interfere, Pilar!" " I don't interfere." " We have a meeting at eight tonight..." "What time can you make it to the rehearsal?" "At 12 tomorrow, my husband has a press conference." "There's another one at 3:00... at 5, a doctor's appointment..." "José you don't have to come to my conference!" "Go to the rehearsal." "I have ideas for books, and she has ideas for life." "And I don't know which is more important." "Now that's nice!" "Pilar, come here!" "I just said something beautiful." "What is it, dear?" "That I have ideas for books..." "Yes." "And you have ideas for life!" "Oh, that's nice!" "And I don't know which is more important!" "What do you think?" "I'm not so sure." "I think life!" "Well, so I'll just have to keep to my place." "You have an interview waiting for you now." "Hold on, I'm going to see how things are." " An interview with who?" " Marisol." "Soon, dead photographers, reporters, cameramen are going to start popping up... and as nobody is going to think I'm the assassin, as long as there are reporters, I'm going to continue killing them." " C'mon, let's go." " Most of all, photographers." "So begin killing them then, television is waiting." "Do you all think that at this point in life a person has anything left to say, that is worthwhile?" "This phrase here is interesting," ""I live disquietly and I write to disquiet"," "I said that I don't know how many years ago and I completely forgot I had ever said it." "So I'm going to recycle it, and use it again." "Tell me when." "Are we recording?" "OK." "José, if you could give us a greeting for the program, as it'll be broadcast at Christmas." "If you could just greet Mexico in general..." "But with this cube here, so they can see it." "What should I say, Pilar?" "That Christmas should be all year round..." "Because it's a Christmas greeting, isn't it?" "Yes, for Christmas, yes." "But, I hate Christmas, how can I say that?" "November 28." "Between 9:30 in the morning and 1 o'clock in the afternoon, 4 interviews." "I just can't understand why in the world they're so interested in declarations they've heard so many times, over and over again!" " Can I take a picture with you?" " Take your picture." "Thank you and good luck." "Tomorrow, at the Diana Theatre, will be the premiere of Death with Interruption with Gael García Bernal and the author José Saramago." "Don't miss it." "The proceeds from ticket sales will go to help children with cancer." "REHEARSAL FOR "DEATH WTH INTERRUPTIONS" ...Which means that for all those people who should already be dead, the candle of life will only go out when the last toll of the bell fades out at midnight." "Nobody died the following day!" "Beautiful!" "Wouldn't it be nice if that were true, huh Pilar?" "But it's not..." "All I can say is that I'm not very fascinated by the idea of straightening my relations with death." "But as she is inevitable the best thing you can do..." "Is sleep with her?" "To get used to the idea?" "Well, nothing would happen..." "No, what's worst is that everything would happen." "What's worst is that everything would happen, a pain in the ass, dear..." "And now I have a press conference, no more, no less." "How nice!" "I just came from a promo event..." "And from various other places..." " Hour long conferences, huh?" " Yeah." "They're unbearable." "The question that most..." "that I can't stand... is: "what do you feel?"" ""What do you feel about being here?"" ""What do you feel?"" "What do you feel about being in Guadalajara today?" "What do you feel being here?" "What do you feel?" "!" "Weird." "Well, I guess, I don't know... it's different, no?" "I don't think so..." "And when they ask you..." ""Can I take a picture with you?"" "It's awful!" "I could say no," ""Look, I don't have time right now", whatever, but, well, I do it." "But I don't do it to be nice," "I do it because..." "How can I say to someone:" ""No." "Don't take the picture"." "For what reason?" "José, a picture!" "Please, look at the camera, just a photo!" "THE WRITER AS A POLITICAL REFERENCE IN SOCIETY We live disquietly and write to disquiet." "We do not want inactive readers, we do not want conformist readers, we do not want resigned readers," "I don't want to live off the money of these types of readers." "I want to live off the money of the other readers." "...made me think, sing," "LITERARY DIALOGUES:" "LITERATURE AND POLITICS dance, recite, recite poetry," ""Jesuza when are you going to get married?" "And she answered on the spot:" "I'm married to a woman and I'm very happy!"" "Decisive acts of the 16th Latin-American Literary prize ln the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco," "Thejury is meeting for the 16th edition of the prize-giving the creativity has reinvented the forms of thejournalistic short story the literary essay, contemporary thinking... the riches of popular culture, the spectacle of urban modernization," "and codes of power and mentality over the 40 years of its existence." "SHOW BY MIGUEL RIOS" "November 29th 2006 PRESS VIEWNG AND PREMIERE" "A symbolic moment in which important personalities hand over this cheque to help benefit children with cancer." "We thank you all for this moment:" "Gael how do you feel about being back home in Guadalajara?" "All I can say is that I am happy to be here acting alongside you, "master"." "All I can say is that the "master" is a great actor, ...most definitely!" "And like all great actors, will deny it." "Attention." "This is the third curtain call." "We will begin." "Nobody died the following day." "Being so different to the usual norms of life, it caused enormous anxiety among the spirits..." "This, my message, I undersign with the name" "I am generally known by:" "Death." "Gael, I love you!" "March 15th 2007 SPAIN" "When I come back from these trips next time." "I'll do everything..." "The face..." " Massage?" " Massage, I mean, really!" "A body massage will be enough." "PILAR'S BIRTHDAY" "JOSÉ'S HONORIS CAUSA" "RNE INTERVIEWWTH JOSÉ" "FINNISH INTERVIEWWTH JOSÉ" "TAPIES E JOSÉ BOOK PRESENTATION WTH JOSÉ" "José Saramago is the author of a vast and intense literary production and the first Nobel Laureate in Portuguese literature, one of the world's most widely spoken languages." "And because of this, we request he be granted the title of Doctor Honoris Causa." " Are you OK?" "Feeling alright?" " Me?" "Yes, yes..." "I'm fine." "After 3 hours of interview..." "I only say this because of your heart, nothing else." "June 29th 2007 PORTUGAL" ""On the 29th June 2007 in Lisbon, in the notary public's presence, the grantor, José de Sousa Saramago, hereby institutes, by means of the present deed, the foundation to be henceforth called the José Saramago Foundation."" "DEEDS FOR THE JOSÉ SARAMAGO FOUNDATION" "It's done, it exists." "It wasjust born." "I was at the bank today and suddenly realized that I had become poor." "I mean, my accounts had been mine up to now." "Suddenly, it all goes to the Foundation, and the only two people who can administer them are:" "Mrs. Dona Pilar - "presidenta" in the feminine!" "And Mr. Sucena who is General Director." "I can't utter a peep!" "Which country doesn't have an extradition agreement with Portugal?" "And they insist I still keep working..." "To make sure the tit doesn't run dry..." "Just kidding, but the other day we were at home and Pilar..." "We were talking about various things and at one point Pilar asked me:" ""But, tell me then, what do you want me to do?"" "And although I had never thought about it before," "I had a ready answer:" ""Continue me"." "Yesterday I said that I hadn't realized how tiring the trip to America had been." "It was only afterwards that I realized." "But we're not going to rest." "José is going to write his book, and I'm going to reorganize all the foundation's pending issues and draw up the agenda for the last quarter." "The word "rest" is not a part of our vocabulary." "This is something I would like to say and make very clear, because a lot of people," "(and increasingly this annoys me more and more)" "Come up and say:" ""Well, Saramago is getting on in years and should slow down a bit, and that he's tired, and I don't know what else"" "And I say:" "OK, let me ask you." "What do you think he should do?" "For Saramago to sit with a stripey blanket over his legs?" "Some people would like that." "But he's not going to do it." "What do they want?" "For me to be more docile and domesticated, stay at home and wash the dishes?" "Well that's not going to happen either!" "If we completely exhaust our energy one day, we sleep, get our strength back and continue forging ahead." "And we have eliminated the word "tired", as there are already so many young people who are tired, who were born tired and spend the whole day tired." "Honestly!" "We have all eternity," "A concept that is hard even to conceive, to rest." "What do we have to do today?" "Something at the village... great!" "The day before yesterday where were we, with four heads of state..." "Great!" "And then the next, to travel grieving because your mother died and you were unable to arrive in time." "It's all part of life." "July 13th 2007 SPAIN" ""Mail for the "tribe" on Friday the 13th most of the tribe will be arriving." "On Sunday the 15th we will inaugurate a park called "Small Memoirs"" "because mamma was very happy there." "On her patron saint's day there will be a surprise:" "José and I are going to take our wedding vows again." "It might sound like a mere formality but it isn't." "We had promised mamma." "She would have liked to be present..." "We arrived a couple of months too late, but we came, and that's what's most important." "We're almost there, it's there up ahead." "CASTRIL THE VILLAGE OF PILAR'S MOTHER" "Mamma has died." "Oh Lord, glory of heaven, we beseech thy kindness in gathering into your fold your daughter Carmen, my mother." "With us here are a few of my brothers and sisters who are not very religious..." "Let's leave it like that..." "Our mamma sitting silently circled by her angels, that was her world, and for this reason she contrasted so much with us!" "Noisy, rebellious, lefties, trouble makers, drinkers, smokers, charlatans." "Mamma took with her a very important part of our past, it will be hard, of course, to learn how to live without mamma." "July 15." "God doesn't need man for anything, except to be God." "Each man that dies is a death of God." "And when the last man dies, God will resuscitate no more." "You drew in your horse and came close to me and never in my life have I seen such green eyes." "Let's sing another." "Another pretty one she liked." "Mamma!" "Mamma!" "Eugenia de Montijo!" "What a pity, such a pity that you're leaving Spain to become a queen." "What a pity, such a pity..." "A round of applause for mamma!" "My mother would be very happy here today." "And I'd like to add that Paco Ibañez's mother would be too." "Paco Ibañez's mother was a Basque woman and as you all know there is a sort of matriarchal society in the Basque country." "To hell with the Basques!" "Well, if it bothers anyone, let me be impertinent here, feel free to leave, as this ceremony is for human beings, who respect and understand each other, OK?" "But if anybody is bothered, someone in this place called Spain with 5 different nationalities, with 20, 17 nationalities and 4 languages they can leave because all the languages in this country are Spanish languages!" "And the Basque country is Spain!" "And if you like, we will make this night a tribute to all the mothers who have already gone before us." "Because they gave us life, right?" "What do you think?" "This world is a road leading to another which is home with no sorrow but we should have the good sense to make the journey without error the journey begins when we are born, walk while we live, and arrive when we die," "so when we die, we rest." "36 degrees..." "July 16th 2007 ...and now Andaluzia Music Radio gives you, for all of you in love." "Pilar and José, our words begin here and here they should end." "I say Pilar and José and I speak of love, of the verb, of greater words." "In Pilar and José's love story, there is room for us all, and what I mean is:" "Pilar and José, yes we love you!" "The civil code states that the spouse's rights and obligations are as follows:" "Husband and wife should mutually respect and help each other," "The married couple must live together and swear fidelity and come to each other's aid." "José, do you take Pilar as your lawful wedded wife?" "I do." "Pilar, do you take José as your lawful wedded husband?" "Oh lord, of course!" "That being so, José and Pilar, I, as president of the Castril town hall, declare you man and wife." "Can we kiss?" "Because if I throw and get it wrong." "For whoever wants it!" "Long live the newly weds!" "Hurrah!" "Long live the newly weds!" "Hurrah!" "This one has two dates on it." "The date we met, and then that of our wedding." "She called me, introduced herself and said:" ""I am Pilar Del Rio, reporter," "I am a big fan of yours and as I am going to Lisbon would like to meet you personally, if you are free"." "And that's what happened." "Oh yeah?" "She didn't even say she wanted an interview, only that she wanted to meet you." "No, no... there was no interview, never was." "And when she showed up, and I didn't know it was her, she came walking in my direction, and I thought to myself," "wow... now that's something...!" "And you never thought of having kids?" "At the beginning yes, but 63 is 63." "And I wouldn't want to have a baby now, it would just complicate our lives." "For me, I think that reason should guide our will." "This seems to be the coldest, the strongest thing one can say." "I think we are rational beings and we have an obligation to be rational." "And never let ourselves be guided by instinct." "Or, in other words, I refuse to cry, to let myself get dissatisfied and depressed." "Ohh, depression exists, yes, but we can take a couple of pills and get down to work." "Period." "I'm in favor of pharmaceuticals." "A whole life of pain, and now we have drugs to help us get over them and then the gurus come along and say:" ""No... they're bad for you!"" "No, what's bad for you is being sick!" "We have to be less dramatic." "Especially those of us are privileged." "I cannot..." "I cannot allow myself, the luxury of being desperate, or hopeless, or sad." "Because I have everything." "Furthermore, I have the strength to fight, which is the greatest privilege of all." "Canal Sur Radio" "Hello, and good morning, Pilar, where are we speaking from?" "March 25th 2007 FINLAND From Finland where I was walking on water." "Like Christ!" "I was walking on frozen water, which is easier." "I've got something in common with Christ, I don't like the weak." "I champion passion." "I can tell, Pilar." "Let's talk about the quotas." "Ok, let's talk about them, because enough is enough." "50% of men and 50% of women... 100% of women, to see if we can fix the problems that 100% of men have caused." "The officer talks on the phone and they then want to find a guilty party, why?" "Because they need to." "They need someone who can be held responsible." "And the last one." "What is a writer's duty?" "To write." "As a writer as well as a citizen:" "To intervene in society as the citizen he is." " What do we do now?" " I think we're going to have lunch." " Anotherjournalist is coming now." " Another one?" "Another one, from the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, the one with the widest circulation." " Now?" " Yes, yes, now." "He's here already!" "Brief answers, the shorter the better for everyone." "And José has to have a break since he didn't sleep very well last night, and rest a bit before 4:30...," "4:30 at the bookstore?" "A signing session..." "FINNISH PRESIDENT" "We thank you for your patience." "Our literary guest has been most patient, autographing all your books." "If you have more than one book, don't hesitate to ask and he'll willingly autograph them all." "March 25th OPENING OF THE OPERA BALTHAZAR AND BLIMUNDA" "YLE INTERVIEW" "March 26th" "SEMINAR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI" "March 27th TAMMI PUBLISHERS" "March 28th SPAIN" "MADRID" " PILAR'S SEMINAR "CYBERSPACE AS PUBLIC SPHERE"" "March 29th FERROL PREMIERE OF THE SHORT FILM THE HIGHEST FLOWER IN THE WORLD" "April 7th PORTUGAL" "LISBON" " FUTURE HEADQUARTERS OF THE JOSÉ SARAMAGO FOUNDATION" "RCP INTERVIEW" "April 15th MATOSINHOS" " HOMAGE TO SIZA VIEIRA" "April 28th" "LISBON" " SIGNING SESSION" "May 15th" "May 18th SPAIN" "May 19th MADRID" " HOMAGE TO POLANCO" "MADRID" " MEETING WTH VICTIMS OF TERRORISM" "What is happening today... is in someway..." "The universal truths..." "They could..." "No." "Not the universal truths, no." "Plural." "The plural truths..." "I'm sorry, it'sjust that I am so tired." "Thank you Pilar." "I haven't had a holiday for over 20 years." ""Ah!" "And why?" "Why do you work so much?"" "Because time presses." "And when time presses a feeling of urgency arises." "Not because one person can save the world through his writing," "He doesn't even know if he can save himself." "He simply has to do what he has to do." "Democracy is there, as if it were a kind of saint on a pedestal." "Why would you want God the Universe?" "What is the point of the Universe in practice?" "...a herd of lost sheep" "The Universe will never know that Homer wrote the Iliad." "8, Quioto" "25, Lisbon" "José Saramago is in our city of Buenos Aires, visibly debilitated to present the Clarin Award..." "This way of living begins to seem absurd to me." "9, return to Madrid." "We'll be counting on Saramago's presence here tomorrow." "It would look very bad if the person being paid homage to didn't go to his own ceremony." "It's true, a virus is going around... but Saramago, with his tremendous strength," "will come." "Even if to do so he has to come in a wheelchair like he did in Argentina." "But it does start to worry me..." "After 11 hours on a flight to Buenos Aires," "José arrived completely dehydrated." "It is very brutal." "These trips are very brutal." "Non-stop..." "It'sjust..." "I don't know how many trips we've made to America this year." "It's insane!" "The hospital is here..." "We could go on ahead a bit." "Afterwards, we'll come out at the emergency exit." "November 16th 2007 MADRID" " JOSÉ'S BIRTHDAY" "My mother and my queen, here I am on my way to Spain from where I will never return." "And if you allow me, I'd like to say that at this moment, José Saramago has lost his voice, and finds it difficult to speak, but, in any case, he will take a few secondsjust to thank you all." "Well, let us see if he can tell you himself, speaking quietly." "Well, if all people of good faith," "if all lovers of beauty, if all those" "who love honesty and justice, could unite their forces" "against the barbarism in the world, the world would be able" "to dignify Man, the human beings that we are." "And perhaps the world" "would have a future." "Thank you all so much." "Pilar..." " Happy birthday to you..." " No, please no, no..." "You can't imagine how much this bothers him." "It would be better not to." "No Lisbon..." "No, no, no." "We have to get back to our nest." "17, trip to Lisbon, cancelled." "18, José's official birthday in Lisbon, cancelled." "19, trip to Évora, cancelled." "20, return to Lanzarote." "November, 20." "Return to Lanzarote." "A very intense feeling of being back home." "23, Lanzarote." "The opening of the exhibition "The Consistency of Dreams"" "about the life and works of José." " And so what do we do now?" " We'll speak tomorrow, OK?" "I guess so, nobody will be here early tomorrow..." "It'll be very quiet, and the light is beautiful." "And so, Violante, we're about to start a very special week, in your father's life and our Nobel laureate." "How do you think José will react to this exhibition?" "I think he will be very, very moved." "I'm convinced he will be, emotionally." "I haven't seen the exhibition." "He saw it being prepared, but with everything that has been going on," "I'm sure he hasn't seen anything either." "From what I can tell, it seems to be rather remarkable." "It is shocking..." "Shocking." "That his own homeland is the country which almost appears to treat him the worst!" "It is amazing that this exhibition, this work, about his work... was put on in Spain." "We're on our way to the exhibition right now." "Well, tomorrow I'll be with the Minister of Culture and I shall take advantage of the fact to ask him for the number while I'm there..." "Are we going in?" "We're going in." "This is it..." "We're here." "Make sure you keep warm, José." "These images here, José..." "Could you please move back, please, so he can see?" "This is a video from the beginning of the century from Azinhaga." "Nothing, in the humble origins of José, would predict Saramago." "Growing surrounded by poverty that would only allow him to finish elementary school," "until the moment that, when he was about 60, he takes the most important decision of his life to start working as a professional writer." "All the great events in my life occured in my later years." "And this is the case of José who worked his entire life, with dedication, with the rigor of a factory worker and has finally has reaped the reward of seeing his literature compared to the words of a prince." "Saramago told his guests and reporters that he didn't want to talk about literature that he would prefer to talk about the world, because the world needed to be talked about." "José you look great." " Relatively..." " Give it a few days, just a few days." "But I'm getting over it... no strength, no anything, but I'll pull through." "But, you're here, 85 years old, and you're here." "And in 3 or 4 days I'll get back to the book I was writing." "All this... which was something I thought at the beginning, could only be done in Lisbon, because it is the "Capital of the Kingdom"..." "Well, it wasn't done," "and I doubt that it ever will be." "Nobody from the Portuguese State or Government was to be seen last weekend in Lanzarote where the biggest exhibition dedicated to the Portuguese Nobel laureate was opened." "José Saramago was 85 years old." "Surprise, surprise," "Saramago looked fragile, but on his feet, at least." "The local inhabitants from the islands gestured and spoke kind words in retribution." "Saramago, look after yourself because we like you." "Are you asleep José?" "Here, take off your coat and tie." "Put on this pyjama top, you'll feel much more comfortable." "Are you happy?" "More than happy..." "Give me your hand." "Here you go." "The "Consistency of Dreams"... is going to kill us." "Attention everyone!" "The library of the José Saramago Foundation!" "Enter and have a look, enter and have a look!" "SPANISH MINISTER OF CULTURE" "Is José sleeping?" "Spain's problems will be over the day we unite the Iberian peninsula..." "We'll put the capital in Lisbon, the Portuguese will think it an honor, they'll be as proud as can be..." "And for God's sake!" "Forget about the problem with Catalonia and the Basque problem!" "Enough!" "And Madrid." "Madrid will be for enjoying life, for art." "The ministries, to Lisbon." "Would you mind a small provocation?" "You're not going to unite Austria and Germany as well, are you?" " No, no, no!" " It's an old dream." "No, no because Austria and Germany would all become Nazis." "How long?" "To know what my answers should be like... brief?" "Yes, brief." "Twenty seconds." "José is presently writing "The Elephant's Journey" is that correct?" "What does Pilar know about this novel?" "Well, I'm sorry to inform you that, despite knowing everything about it, I'm not going to say anything." " José continues actively..." " Yes." "He continues writing, but not when he goes on trips." "He is on page fifty something and soon, when this whole thing is over, he is anxious to sit back down in front of his computer and write his daily program, which is 2 pages a day." "So can we hope to see this new book being released next year?" "Well..." "I'd probably say more than hope, you can be pretty sure of it!" "And now for the latest news" "José Saramago has just been admitted into a clinic in Lanzarote." "It has not been possible to enter in contact with any of José Saramago's family members." "This is, of course, something we will be following over the next few hours." "December 18th 1st WEEK IN HOSPITAL" "Camões I don't know what you have here." "I can't tell if this is a burr or a tick." "This one showed up after they had just told José he had won the Camões Award." "That's why he's called Camões, because he came the exact same moment the news did." "And Pepe because here in Spain everybody has this habit of calling José, Pepe." "So we decided to call the dog Pepe so that each time somebody called José Pepe..." "José would answer: "That sounds good." "But why are you telling the dog that?"" "Pepe and Greta, his friends, have already died." "José was very ill, but please, he isn't about to die." "Which is something that all our colleagues seem to want." "Of course they do." "All of them are just waiting to publish their pages..." "It's incredible..." "Incredible, our profession." "Come here, come here!" "Come on over and cheer us up a bit, we need it." "Oh... the hospital is all decorated with Christmas decorations, you wouldn't believe it..." "2nd WEEK IN HOSPITAL" "Pilar's here!" "Come in Pilar." "3rd WEEK IN HOSPITAL" "Pilar!" "Pilar!" "Saramago!" "José!" "Saramago!" "Saramago!" "Saramago!" "The introduction:" "José arrived in Granada and saw the Del Rio's "Cave"." "And he did his best to learn "All the Names"," "Castril..." "The wedding..." "So pretty..." "Let's go?" "I'm going to the hospital." "Bye..." "Goodbye..." "And the countdown now begins, and all you gentlemen have to eat the 12 grapes." "Let's go then:" "Now:" "One!" "Two!" "Eleven!" "Twelve!" "Everyone with their glass..." "To José!" "To José!" "Hold on... hold on..." "A toast to Pilar." "To Pilar!" "You say "ano feliz"?" "Is that how you say it in Portuguese?" ""Ano" is a bit strange, isn't it?" "Pilar said that they're already waiting..." "Let's go..." "Have you never been to a demonstration before?" "1... 2... 3!" "They're doing the wave thing..." "Say hello to them, José... wave your hand..." "Life:" "Effective existence, the movement of matter in an organized manner, agitation, activity, movement." "Die, live no more." "Like, desire greatly, never to be concluded." "To be extinguished, weakened." "Death:" "Cessation of vital functions." "The end of life, to have been and no longer be." "It was a river, with clear water." "It was a field, all green, and in the background, a line of trees way in the distance." "And me, walking in the water, completely naked, heading I don't know where." "I've been thinking:" "Should I go and see Solomon!" "Why is this animal so filthy?" "!" "Where is its keeper?" "I would imagine it has a keeper." "Manchester, Edinburgh," "Liverpool and London." "Is Lanzarote, at this moment of my life, a recovered Azinhaga?" "Love:" "To have love, affection, devotion, esteem..." "Pilar, Pilar," "Pilar, Pilar..." "Pilar, Pilar, Pilar..." "José..." "José..." "José." "José." "It's 12:00." "The book, Pilar." "I'm afraid of not being able to finish it." "The dreams..." "I have very strange dreams." "And all of this is also to do with the place I'm in." "A constantly lit light." "To sleep, I close my eyes, but the light continues." "And the dreams..." "I've never had dreams like this." "Terrible." "And it is nothing to do with... with death or the fear of death." "It's to do with situations." "There's this one dream in which I scream." "I think I scream." "For Pilar..." "And they're desperate screams." "And she doesn't come." "January 20th 2008 5th WEEK IN HOSPITAL" "Oh, the elephant..." "the elephant'sjourney." "This is the elephant'sjourney." "You light these..." "Shit!" "And the heat..." "You see, isn't that nice?" "I want to sit down." "I can see José is getting better and if José gets better I'm fine." "But I couldn't care less about anything else." "They can say what they like, each and every one of them." "You know what the problem is?" "Saramago never hid his age." "And I was told by the doctors that this would be a long process." "At least three months, and that there would be ups and downs," "And unhappily there was a down period." "Because what Saramago didn't do was to rest at home." "He went to the opening of the exhibition..." "Travelled from Madrid to Lanzarote..." "A press conference..." "Received I don't know how many people at home..." "Over a few days, of course..." "And he paid the price, he's paying the price." "I can tell you, this will not happen again." "From now on no more paying..." "We're not going to do anything..." "But look after his health, with lots of love and care." "Because..." "if they want to break this rule, it'll be over my dead body." "For the time being, I'm still alive, and as long as it lasts, it lasts." "One day it'll be over." "We already know that." "Now..." "I wouldn't want to be in Pilar's shoes after I'm gone." "But, anyway, we'll be close to one other, because my ashes are going to be placed under a stone in the garden so, you might say, we'll still be together in a way..." "I climbed Blanca Mountain yesterday." "I remember thinking while I was going up that if I fell and died, it would be over," "I wouldn't write anymore books." "I didn't pay much heed to the warning." "The only really important thing" "I had to do at the moment was get to the top." "Pilar." "Pilar!" "It's the voice of someone who feels like they are losing their grip on life..." "And who makes one last attempt" "to be heard and remain on this side, this side." "Where we, the living, still are." "ACT III THE RETURN" "January 22nd 2008 THE DAY OF THE RETURN HOME" "The man walks through the mist." "Once more Solomon!" "Please, just one more time." "And Solomon answered his plea." "It was as if the elephant had thought" ""that poor devil is going to die, I'll resuscitate him."" "And now the poor devil is fading away in gratitude and pledges of thanks, for the rest of his life." "I was lost in the fog and it was his voice that saved me." "And then the sun, like an immense broom of light, pushed through the fog and swept it all away." "It went "pop" and vanished." "Some onomatopaeic words are very handy." "Imagine if I had to describe the entire process leading to the guy's disappearance" "I'd need at least ten pages." "Pop!" "The life and work of José Saramago has arrived in Lisbon." "At the opening for the press the Nobel laureate promised a new book by the end of the year." "I am in Portugal, and Pilar and I are very happy to be here." "That this may be only the beginning, of common work, and besides that, I recently made a very important discovery," "I came to the conclusion that the most beautiful language in the world is Portuguese." "I am home once again." "The first step in a reconciliation with Portugal has been taken." "The exhibition can be seen until July 27th." "PRIME MINISTER OF PORTUGAL" "I am the one that is honored." "I would like José Saramago to know what the Portuguese State thinks." "I want him to know that we like him, and that we are very proud of everything he has done for the Portuguese language and say, that in the name of the Portuguese government, it is with men like these," "that you make the history of a country and it is with men like these, men of noble spirit supplanting and surpassing themselves, that it is possible to build a better country." "Thank you very much." "Recovered..." "The whole Saramago clan united!" "The presentation was at five in the afternoon..." "The presentation of what?" "The opening ceremony of the Cannes Festival." "And then everyone took a break, and all those people walking by, looking marvellous, beautiful and glamorous..." "But they don't say anything about that because what's important is a guy reading something about some stadium." "Please, somebody tell me what's going on for this to be going out live on every channel on Portuguese television, 1, 3..." "All the channels are showing this guy, but, who is this guy?" "!" "Henrique Cymerman in Israel." "Blindness by Fernando Meirelles has been adapted for the cinema from" ""Essay on Blindness" by José Saramago." "The film opens the Cannes Film Festival today." "Blindness, a movie based on a Portuguese book, filmed by a Brazilian and spoken in English." "This will be Cannes's 61st edition." "There are ideas forjust about anything, and the first solar bra has just been invented." "May 18th 2008 PRIVATE SCREENING OF BLINDNESS" "Fernando..." "No need..." "I am so happy for having seen this film... just like when I wrote it." "Really?" "You don't know how happy that makes me too." " It's made our day." " Thank you, thank you so much." "Imagine when I was so ill, so ill, that I could have... that I wouldn't have been here today," "imagine what I would have missed without ever knowing!" "Lmagine it!" " We'll take the A1 North, right?" " Not now." "We're going to Azinhaga." "Azinhaga?" "Yes, you know where we're going, don't you?" "More or less." "But they explained everything to you, didn't they?" " No, nobody told me anything." " I don't believe it, I don't believe it." "Where's José?" "I'm here honey, right here, waiting for you." "Ah..." "At your party you are alone..." "It's so hot isn't it?" "Fucking menopause..." "I can't breathe." "May 31th 2008 INAUGURATION OF THE JOSÉ SARAMAGO HOUSE MUSEUM AND PILAR DEL RIO STREET" "It did not take us long to perceive the love and affection you nurture for Azinhaga, always in support of strengthening José Saramago's bonds with his roots." "I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for this honor." "It is the first, and probably, the last." "And OK, fine." "There is a street that is called" "José Saramago Street, which already existed..." "I'm not sure if the street sign is still the same, because the last time we saw it was 20 years ago, and on it is written:" "José Saramago, writer." "Now, at a certain point it intersects Pilar del Rio Street..." "And I hope they haven't put "wife"." "And we will all soon be able to visit the José Saramago Foundation in Azinhaga." "Thank you." "It is all just great... very nice." " Could I ask you for an autograph?" " It embarrasses me, I get embarrassed." "Have a kiss instead." "Fantastic, thank you." "A kiss, kiss, kiss..." "A kiss." " Congratulations." " No." "Congratulations for you today." " Yes, yes." "Today is..." " Today is your day." "You stole the writer's day today..." "When I was researching for the book..." "I saw that the Brazilians..." "There were a lot of researchers interested in his work." "On the other hand the Portuguese think that Brazilian universities are shit." "You can write that down, say it." "And they don't want to sign the Orthographic Agreement." "Well, we can begin, as far as I'm concerned..." " So, let's start with the Foundation." " OK." "Pilar as "presidente" (masculine) Of a foundation..." ""Presidenta" (in the feminine)." ""Presidenta"." "I make a point of beginning this interview saying," ""Only the ignorant call me " presidente"." "The word didn't exist because the position didn't exist." " Yes." " Once the position exists, the word that denominates the position comes into existence." "I am the "presidenta"." "And whoever calls me "president" (in the masculine), is stupid." "Do you think that, women are just like men in politics, are they better or worse than them?" "Women can never be like men, never." "Because we're not men!" "But don't you think women work better than men?" "Not better, but we work more, work better and we are multitask." "Zapatero has legalized gay marriages..." "He fights for all the gay causes." "Why is that?" "To get some more votes or because he really believes in it?" "Let's see, all the gay causes and all that concerns human rights." "So Zapatero has come to correct a democratic deficit." "And the legalization of gay marriage was a democratic deficit." "Nowadays, concerning the huge number of gay people in Spain," "It must be complicated for matrimonial life... for marriages..." "Much more complicated for matrimonial life is men with big bellies, more than gays." "Than to be alone without a man?" "What do you mean?" "There are a lot of gay men in Spain." "No, there are a lot of men and women with a different sexual option, but that will not affect us men or women who have a different sexual option..." "There isn't any problem, I insist!" "To be stupid, to be rude or mean, is a handicap for human relationship..." "To be gay?" "For God's Sake!" "Pilar is a very controversial name in Portugal!" "No, the name Pilar does not exist in Portugal." "But, please, for God's sake, flatter me some more, tell me it is, lie to me, tell me I'm controversial." "No, it does not exist, I am not controversial because I don't have any public repercussion." "And why am I controversial?" "Because, it' like this, today, it's that, most Portuguese see Pilar as the woman who was responsible for taking José Saramago to Spain." "No, that was done by the government of Cavaco Silva." "Next." "But for example, Pilar changed José Saramago's life, you control his agenda... organizes his life." "Because if it weren't for Pilar, it would be somebody else he'd have to hire." "The idea I have of Pilar, is that in large crowds she doesn't like to talk..." "No, no, not at all." "I love to talk in front of large crowds, for God's sake, of course." "I just don't have the opportunity." "You don't have the opportunity?" "Why?" "Because I am a journalist who has been pulling out of public life now for some time." "And, because I am not a politician nor a leader of the masses, that is, because I don't have..." "But I like it." "Of course I like it!" "No problem with that." "One last question:" "Is it hard being the "presidenta" of a foundation like this?" "Hard is being a miner." "Pilar is not complacent, and she can't stand unscrupulousness, hypocrisy, they drive her mad." "There's a connection there with Saint Therese, she was a devout Theresian." "You've got to have certain postures." "And there's a phrase that can be translated as" ""see, hear but don't remain silent"." "July 14th 2008 LANZAROTE Tonight don't miss our special report on José Saramago..." "Saramago has the world in his hands." "I've been recuperating and..." "My God, José, just look at you..." "My God!" "I can't believe it!" "Horrible!" "And I wasn't at my worst, Pilar?" "!" "Horrible, look at me!" "But, why do I look so ugly!" "Good grief!" "Between you sick and me looking so ugly, horrible!" "Inseparable now for over 20 years and now a toponymy in Azinhaga forever..." "For all the lovers in the world to come and meet and kiss on the intersection of Pilar del Rio and José Saramago Street." "June 14th." "Today is the anniversary of the day I met Pilar, and I go home with great happiness." "No episode to put down, no story for posterity..." "That's how things are, I mean..." ""Happy" is the last word I wrote." "As the journey's end is uneventful," "I don't feel it is necessary, plus it's something I would never do, making up silly stories just to give more content." "The greatjourney, deep down, was that which began in Lisbon and ended on the border of Italy with Austria." "No, there's not that much, I mean, the fact is, we have this habit of romanticizing everything, and we immediately start..." "dreaming up philosophical theories..." "The elephant shits, obviously." "The elephant pisses, pisses, eats... doesn't speak, doesn't think and I'm not about to make him think like humans, obviously." "The king observed the spectacle irritated and revolted, having regretted giving in to his early-morning impulse to make a sentimental visit to a brutish pachyderm, measuring almost,4 rods high..." "More than 4... no, not rods." "I don't think it's rods." "A first translation isjust that." "There'll be a first, then a second, a third, a fourth and, a fifth." "I'll change the dedication in this book." "It was something else, I'll change it today:" ""To Pilar, who wouldn't let me die!"" "And it's true, it's true..." "For Pilar until the very last moment." ""Death With Interruptions"" "For Pilar, my home;" ""Essay on Lucidity"" "For Pilar, all days;" ""Notes from Lanzarote"" "For Pilar;" ""Don Giovanni"" "For Pilar, my pillar;" ""Blindness"" "For Pilar;" ""The Gospel According to Jesus Christ"" "For Pilar;" ""Short Memoirs"" "For Pilar, who had not yet been born and took so long in coming." "I'm sorry, I don't want to climb up a mountain if there are elevators." "Pilar was desperate." "I didn't tell her where I was going." "I wasn't thinking about climbing Blanca Mountain when I left home." "I just turned up and said:" ""What if I walked up a bit?" And that's what I did..." "And then aftewards I thought:" ""What if I climbed up a bit more?", and I climbed up a bit more." ""And what if I went to the top?", and I carried on..." "I was 70 years old!" " Did I say nothing when you got back?" " No, you did." "You said all kinds of things." "I didn't say anything for a couple of days." "She was, I mean, she was..." "I was on the verge of packing my things and leaving." "She was angry." "But, anyway, it's something I can tell our visitors, isn't it?" "As if I had climbed Everest." "My own Everest..." "that's what it is." "But anyway..." "The next time you feel like you need an adventure," "I suggest you take up embroidery, and embroider a tablecloth." "It's a lot more productive, meticulous work and requires a lot of effort, a lot of concentration and talent, and it endures." "You have up to page 100..." "I can give you today, or tomorrow, 10 more." "Because like I told you, I'll be finishing it this next week." "MONDAY" "Pilar!" "José, if you want we can go to the library." "Get me some paper, dear." "And then the young girl, pulls free from her mother and runs towards the elephant..." "TUESDAY And what the elephant does, and this is historical, is grab the girl with its trunk and returns her to her mother." "WEDNESDAY" "The overseer couldn't do anything apart from cross himself... and then cross himself again." "THURSDAY" "Hardly able to believe what he had just seen with his own eyes." "The next stage begins when he heads north or you could say to hell." "The guy who organized this trip..." "And now we need a very strong Spanish swearword." "Something like:" "He could eat shit..." "No..." "He could stick it up his ass..." " Can you put that?" " No..." "FRIDAY" "So, when he finishes, for me to finish the same day," "I throw myself into it, so that, if he finishes the book at 4:00 in the afternoon," "I finish at 8:00," "SATURDAY an they can both have the same date." "SUNDAY And so the book is reaching the end, but at least, concerning the narration, this is not going to be sustained until the end." "José?" "On the official page of the Lisbon City Hall..." "They finally put..." "It is the first official institution to say:" "Pilar Del Río - "Presidenta"" "The war isn't over," "And that's why we're here." "To demand that if they can't give life back, for hundreds and thousands of deaths, that Bush, Blair and Aznar, at least ask for the victims for forgiveness, all victims." "And we won't budge on this!" "They won't change our position, and we won't move." "No to war!" "No to war!" "MONDAY August 12th José?" "José, wake up it's already 10:00!" "We have to go to Medina's house." "10:00?" " Yes." " Do you think Obama will win?" " I think so." " But what's your opinion?" "That Obama..." "My opinion doesn't count." "Obama, who I have defended since the very first day," "The very first hour against my wife here who was all for..." " Hillary Clinton, I was also for Obama..." " Hillary Clinton... a woman..." " Who I think is fantastic." " She's not fantastic at all, Pilar." "Just ambitious, ambitious..." "As you should be." "As she should be, no, Pilar..." "She doesn't have to be ambitious." "She's climbing a mountain, representing us..." " And demanding a position." " Who does she represent?" "First of all, she isn't representing you because she doesn't even know you exist." " No." "Not her, nor Obama..." " Hang on, Pilar..." "Not even the congressman in my village." "This type of power in a woman you don't know anything about..." " No, I know enough, enough." " You don't know anything..." "I know enough about this woman, enough about her life..." " You don't know anything." " I know enough about politics..." "You don't know anything." "Pilar, please." "Let's see:" "A) she is worth much more than her husband, b) at one moment she had to say fuck it and step out of the way for her husband to pass, when it was she who had the political will and ability." "She was always the one with her hands on the reins." " You're just making things up now..." " No, no way, I know..." " A sense of responsibility!" " Who?" "Because at that moment she supported..." "Her husband didn't, when he had the trainee under the desk..." "She was the one who had a sense of responsibility when her hisband didn't." "In the White House, the office, his work place?" "No, Pilar, the indignity of that man who did what he did, his indignity." "And that other woman, the famous Hillary Clinton, who represents you!" "And it seems a shame that a woman like that represents you..." "I want to be her friend!" "And there's another type of indignity which is no less than the other, which involved sacrificing everything for the possibility of becoming the President of the United States." "No, sacrificing everything for her husband to become the president of the United States." "No, no Pilar..." "Women, imagine how they have been marginalized, and that's the last thing I'll say because there is something I can never forgive Hillary Clinton for:" "And I would like to meet her, and if life is fair, we'll meet one day." "I want to tell her..." "And that is:" "Going on her husband's campaign trail 8 years ago!" "When she gets to that point, it's not so easy getting anywhere." "Your so radically feminist..." "I am so radically feminist because I have to compensate for the lack of feminism in some of the others..." "It'sjust that I've been thinking about this subject now for 58 years." "Pilar can I say something?" "You two are the only ones today who could have got me out of the house, where I was finishing my book..." " No José, don't tell them!" " No." " Don't tell them, they don't care." " Oh, please!" " Don't tell them." " Where I was finishing my book..." "I was finishing my book and I'm going back home..." "To finish the book." " Listen, when are you going to finish it?" " Today." "Today!" "Wait, José." "I'm waiting, dear." "The elephant died almost 2 years later" "Dom João III murmured, Cousin Maximillian says here that Salomon..." "The queen didn't let him finish." "And ran off to shut herself in her room, where she cried for the rest of the day." "Dear friends," "Dear friends," "José Saramago has finished his new book "The Elephant's Journey"." "Saramago began this task when he was incubating a serious illness, which later led to those closest to him to fear for his life." "He himself, in the hospital, began to doubt whether he would ever finish the book." "However, seven months later, he has put the final period at the end of his narration..." "Solomon, the elephant, was not so lucky, but we can talk about this later." "A big hug to you all and may happiness be with you." "Pilar." "November 19th 2008 SÃO PAULO 3 DAYS OF REST" "No, don't put it in blue, Pilar." "Don't do that." " Don't get mad..." " I'm not mad, dear." "But you know I don't like this in colour." "See you later then, José, at the office." "See you later, Luís." "PRESS CONFERENCE PORTUGUESE CONSULATE" "José Saramago, in your blog you wrote, that interviews have become, a sort of reheated soup." "So what motivated you to be here today?" "When I say reheated soup, it is partly your fault." "Because as you always ask the same questions," "I have to give the same answers." "Next question?" "What is a sustainable mode of life?" "Sustainable." "That which can be sustained..." "It sometimes seems that Portugal appears to be getting more and more like your books." "How do you see Portugal's present political and social scenario?" "Has the proximity of death changed anything in you, seeing as it has not changed anything in your story?" "Serenity." "And without forgetting the important fact that I have no need to read Paulo Coelho." "FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO REVIEW After suffering from a serious illness, have you changed your concept of God?" "And why would I have changed my concept of God?" "Because he supposedly saved my life?" "An author who is known for not using punctuation in his sentences he is José Saramago he is here in São Paulo to release his new book and I am going to try and talk to him because whatever it takes" "I need to talk to him and I need to breath and I need to get his autograph." "Look, Maria Pilar, Saramago's wife." "You won't get me..." "C.Q.C. Won't get me." "We won't get you?" "It'sjust a little battle of wits, right?" "Are you saying that both of us are intelligent?" "He writes a lot about women in his books, doesn't he?" "Women are always strong..." "I want to know if you beat him up..." "Not beating, per se." "Were you with him after he had seen Fernando Meirelles' film?" "I heard he cried a lot on that day, no?" "Was the movie all that bad?" " Aren't you going to take a photo?" " He's taking it." "I just wanted to ask..." "Will you let me ask it?" "If you allow me, Mr. José..." "Hurry up!" "I just wanted you to write "for Janaína" please, because I bought it autographed." " I can't, I haven't got time!" "I can ask him." "You can only ask." "Thank you." "Saramago, my name is Stefano." "Please, could you draw me a hippopotamus?" " Ah, of course." " On this piece of paper here." "I don't have time and there are..." "It can be a simple drawing." "I think I have an idea Pilar..." "About Cain." "A beer..." "A beer." "Please, a beer." "I'm having a panic attack." "José, repeat what you said as you were getting off the plane." " Say it." " I think I'm going to..." "To do what?" "Write another book." "I believe..." "You've got a story." "Àngel Campos died!" "Àngel Campos?" "Yes." "Poor Àngel Campos!" "I'm beginning to feel like a survivor already." "Well, it's time I had a shave." "Have they tidied up the room?" "Say hello to Saro, José." " Hi Saro!" " Hi, José, how are you?" "Fine, thank you." "And you, how are you?" " I'm here, working." " Very good, that's what we pay you for, because if you don't work, we wouldn't need you." " Look, look, look!" " That's capitalism for you." "Are you going to dress José up all handsome and smart?" "We slept with President Putin..." "both Putin and Lula in the same hotel, just so you know." "And now we're going to have lunch with Chico Buarque." "Are you jealous?" "Really?" "Listen, bring me something autographed by Chico Buarque..." "Great!" "Look, I'm checking José..." "He's handsome, Pilar." "...and his pressure is 12.7 maximum!" "Son of a bitch!" " I can't believe it!" " And 7 minimum... and a pulse of 85." "Tell José that I'll never forgive him..." "Wait, I'm going to measure it again, just to make sure." "José Saramago, who gives us the honor of his visit to the Brazilian Academy of Literature." "We will now have a signing session but he won't be writing dedications." "We don't want to tire him out." "Thank you very much." "Can I kiss you on the cheek?" "Go ahead." "But you're not going to take a picture, are you?" " I admire you so much." " Thank you." "I was even in Lisbon but I couldn't find you." "Saramago?" "I love you, you hear?" "Hum?" "I love you, OK?" "This one is from one of our academy members." "And the last one." "Wow..." "Hard work!" "But it's over." " A lot of work!" "Very good." " Thank you so much." "Thank you for your visit, and please accept a... well, the water is there..." "Now, nothing more." "Just get back to the hotel quickly and rest." "Very well!" "I'll get out and you come over here." " You guys are going to kill me!" " I'll leave this here!" "You'll kill me!" "In my next life, I want to be a tree." "With my roots sunk into the earth, and nobody will get me to move from there." " And now José should be on this side." " Well that's true... but no big deal." " But we can swap." " No Pilar." "He can just turn the camera and it's fine, he's had enough of my face." "But, it's your face with Copacabana in the background." "Just look at the beautiful background now..." "Could you pull over to the side for a moment please so we can record better?" "We're going to change places." "Now that wasn't so hard and it'll last a whole life, we'll be able to see these images for years and years." "You have amazing faith in the future, Pilar." "No." "You all exaggerate." "It's very simple." "I think I can say that I have no regrets whatsoever." "To be honest, I can't imagine a better life than mine." "With everything that has happened, the ups and downs, to the point where, if somebody asked me, would you like to live it all over again?" "I would have to say yes." "All of it." "There's something you have to understand..." "I shouldn't have been a writer..." "I was not born to be a writer." "So I only fulfill my destiny as a writer in the last phase of my life." "Which means that I've been very lucky..." "Because if I had just died earlier, well... nothing..." "It would have been a shame!" "November 27th 2008 INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH OF "THE ELEPHANT'S JOURNEY"" "The book was written in a state of pure happiness." "And perhaps this happiness actually resulted from me having escaped." "Actually, I am here today as something of a survivor." "For how much longer... we don't know... we never know." "In any case, the other day during an interview in Lisbon," "I think it was in Lisbon, they asked me:" ""And now that you have everything... the Nobel prize, glory, fame, this, and that, and whatever, what more would you like?" "And I answered: "Time"." "Life." "Time... and life to..." "Carry on with my work, with my wife... and to live... as I have lived up until now." "And this is all part... of the way I see myself." "And to continue... nourishing myself and live and bring to fruition" "the happiness which is mine and the happiness which is ours." "There is something I can repeat here..." "Now that I'm 86..." "If I had died before meeting Pilar" "I would have died much older than I am now." "But, before I start crying, let's get back quickly, to the elephant'sjourney." "The elephant died a year after arriving in Vienna." "They skinned him and cut his front feet to use as an umbrella stand, to hold walking sticks and parasols." "If this had not happened, which is historic," "I wouldn't say I wouldn't have written the book but I just might not have," "I might not have because when they cut off his feet, the feet that had walked thousands of kilometers to get to Vienna," "deep down was a metaphor..." "I mean... of the futility of life." "We are unable to make it into anything more than the little it is, so, what a sad ending... what a sad ending..." "And that is why this elephant owes its literary existence to this particular circumstance." "The invitation is still standing, to go to Quioto, I'd like to go there." "I'd like to go to India, like to go to India... a film by" "production co-production" "editing director of photography sound" "music" "Pilar..." "We'll meet elsewhere."