THE CAVE,by Jose Saramago, translated by Margaret Jull Costa, Harcourt, 307 pages, $25.
Born in Portugal 80 years ago and now living in the Canary Islands, Jose Saramago won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. Ten of his books, including "Blindness," his best-known book, have been translated into English.
Saramago is a literary late bloomer, having worked for most of his life as production manager, translator and editor in a Portuguese publishing company. He published his first novel, "The Land of Sin," in 1947, then didn't do another for 30 years, so he was 60 before he hit the big time.
During the past 20 years, Saramago has probably become Portugal's most famous novelist. He is given to parables, proverbs and the grand statement. In "Blindness," for instance, he suggests that all of society suffers from blindness and is never able to really see each other or themselves.
In "The Cave," he makes a similar statement, suggesting that all of us have reached the point where we are so useless that we live in a cave. In the novel, the cave is called The Center and is symbolized by the shopping center, known as a light, clean place that draws people, even though there are no windows.
Saramago has borrowed from Plato's parable of the cave, which suggested that human beings had been reduced to prisoners who watch shadows on the cave's walls.
Cipriano Algor, an aging potter, is the major character. He lives with his daughter Marta and her husband Marcel in a small village on the outskirts of The Center, a huge complex of shops, apartments, offices and "sensation zones." Algor makes jugs and pots and sells them to The Center, until he is informed that his stuff is no longer selling because people prefer plastic.
With his daughter's help, Algor tries making ceramic dolls instead, and The Center expresses interest. But his problem is far from solved. He can clearly see that he has reached a point at which he is useless to society. In the meantime, his son-in-law works as a security guard at The Center, where he, his wife and Algor will eventually live — in a small, clean apartment without windows. Algor hates the thought of moving there.
Early on, Algor finds a lost dog whose owner he cannot locate, so he adopts the pet and calls him "Found." The dog becomes something of a soul-mate for a man who has recently lost his wife. The dog actually plays a crucial role in softening the hearts of all three of the main characters, even Marcel, who initially doesn't like dogs. Algor tells him the dog does not warm easily to him because he wears a uniform, a symbol of authority.
" . . . The best thing a dog can do is to remain silent until the silence of his master grows weary, dogs know that human nature is, by definition, a talkative one, imprudent, indiscreet, gossipy, incapable of closing its mouth and keeping it closed."
A love interest emerges for Algor when he meets a widow at the cemetery where both their spouses are buried, but he is so shy that he has not the faintest idea how to approach her, and he almost loses his opportunity.
The pleasure in this story comes in the rich characterization and the day-to-day lives of these people as they come to realize how important they are to each other. There are predictable conflicts, as when Marcel's own parents think they should be allowed to live with him at The Center, but, ironically, his parents irritate him and he would much rather live with his father-in-law.
The book is written in a unique stream-of-consciousness style, with very long sentences and paragraphs and no quotation or question marks to separate or define the dialogue. That is because Saramago prefers the most natural way of speaking he can depict. Initially, the style is jolting, but it becomes comfortable surprisingly quickly, probably attesting as much to the translator's skills as to the author's.
Saramago succeeds in bringing the reader inside the lives of his characters, causing us to care about what happens to them. Even though the author's reputation is that of a pessimist, he provides hope in this gentle story that humanity can win out over bureaucracy. There are many profound thoughts expressed about human beings and authority.
Much of the writing is beautiful, as when Saramago talks of "breathing into nostrils" to illustrate the process of creation, and "how very unjust and imprudent we were to take up and adopt as our own the heretical idea that the said god coldly turned his back on his own work.
"Yes, it is true, that no one ever saw him again, but he left us what was perhaps the best part of himself, the breath, the puff of air, the breeze, the soft wind, the zephyr."
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com