“Los persas de esta historia”: lo poético-político en José Saramago

Abstract

The plays A Noite (1979), Que farei com este livro? (1980), A segunda vida de Francisco de Assis (1987), In nomine Dei (1993) and, finally, Don Giovanni ou o dissoluto absolvido (2005) are part of the set dramaturgy published by José Saramago. In these fictional texts, the relationships between the self and the other promote action – not different from what happens in life. The link between the action, the creation, and the development of thesaramaguian dramatic character is analyzed in this work about A noite. The aim is to identify whether the actions practiced by the characters go beyond the driving and final cause for the existence of the dramatic character if they dialogue with principles of an ethical ideology that would influence and, in with Saramago’s aesthetics. Given this hypothesis, in addition to the works mentioned above, non-fictional texts by José Saramago contributed to this analysis: Speeches from Stockholm, Notebooks from Lanzarote, Letter of Duties and Obligations of Citizens associated with the works of Pavis, Edélcio Mostaço, Robert Abirached and Pirandello. The choice for a dialogue among fiction, non-fiction, and the texts of the mentioned theorists contributed to understanding the peculiarities of the theatrical text and its elements, in particular, character and action; understand the concepts of ideology, ethics, aesthetics, as well as identify Saramago's ethical ideology and how it manifests itself in the aesthetics of the dramatic text produced by him. The analysis suggests that the transition between spaces in José Saramago's plays can be understood as a strategy that goes beyond the artistic realization of the character. The movement, the action matter for the exercise of Saramago's ethical ideology: the duty to have duties towards the other; being a character is not enough, one must be a citizen, one must be a character-citizen.