RESEARCH PROJECT FINANCED BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE CENTER (NCN), ​DEC2012/05/B/HS2/03986

DOPISKI SARAMAGOWSKIE >>>

"LATE" SARAMAGO

RESULTS OF THE PROJECT

 My definition of "late" Saramago stems from the observation of a stylistic change in the writer's work, separating the allegoric novels, such as Seeing, from his earlier literary achievements, arguably reflecting a Baroque inspiration. The essence of the "late style" may be found in a tendency towards a certain kind of minimalism. Yet I try to go deeper that this, searching rather for a ceasura in the writer's world view.
There are two books published as the result of this project. First one is not dedicated to Saramago entirely, but he plays a crucial role in it. In Empire and Nostalgia, I search for a critical view of the Portuguese "imperial cycle", marked by a falsified understanding of universalism. Saramago's Kain is treated as a boundary text in this context, as I interpret his vision of polycentric humanity as a crucial step beyond the early-modern definition of the human kind that determines the Portuguese claim of unification in the Fifth Empire. Saramago formulates a vision of a "local" paradise that was latent, and yet absent in Vieira, who had asked the question concerning the origin of Brazilian Indians, finding for them no place in such "narrations of origins" as the biblical episode of drunkenness of Noah. 
On the other hand, such texts as Saramago's unfinished novel Alabardas mark the end of the nation as the main instance operating in history. This place is occupied by a corporation implied in production and commercialization of arms. Belona, not Portugal is thus in the limelight. This change of perspective is crucially novel as it interrupts the long tradition of redefining the "Portuguese destiny", to which belonged Fernando Pessoa, Eduardo Lourenço, and so many minor writers and thinkers. 
On the other hand, in Seductor's Old Age, I try to give a sum of my Saramaguian adventure that started nearly twenty years ago and culminated in Pokusa pustyni, a book published in 2005, where I try to give a synthesis of the agonic relations sketched by Saramago in his great cycle of novels, mainly from Raised from the Ground till Seeing. As I was reading through Saramaguian bibliography, if often crossed my mind that this attempt at a synthesis is quite remarkable in comparison to the main bulk of studies dedicated to this writer and the main hindrance has been caused by the fact the book was published in Polish, preventing it from entering the main stream of discussion. This new research project gave me an opportunity for a new synthesis, offered -- better late than never -- to the global readers of the Portuguese Nobel prize winner.

The main issue proposed in the project description was the problem of creative activity in old age. The concept of "late style", defined by Edward Said as an utmost fruit of a mature mind, has been primarily used in the study of José Saramago last literary works, as well as his participation in the public debate at the end of life. 
The financial means put at my disposition in this project, a sum of around 40 000 zl (approx. 10 000 euro) had been spent mostly in travels, collecting working materials, and publications. In the framework of this project, I realized two stays in Portugal, where I worked mostly in the National Library in Lisbon, as well as the library of the same University of Lisbon where I obtained my Lusitanist formation in the 90ties. The money from the project was also spent to co-finance the publication of two books: Imperium i nostalgia. "Styl pózny" w kulturze portugalskiej and Seductor's Old Age. José Saramago at the end of life.
Considering the results of this project, first of all I must stress the importance of this opportunity in the rearrangement and actualization of my working space in Portuguese & Lusophone studies, area that I virtually had to abandon after being employed at the University of Warsaw in 2006. The project had thus marked my "return" to the Portuguese problems. Hopefully it contributed to the advancement of my academic career, as the books published now may be seen as a key element of my application for full professorship, closing a cycle of my specialization in Portuguese literature and cultural history. This is achieved in spite of my strong inscription in a larger, transdisciplinary field in the past ten years. 
The crucial result of the project, as I see it, was thus not only to conclude my studies on Saramago, to whom I had already dedicated an extensive monograph in 2005, completing it with an approach to the late period of his literary career, but to launch a new path in my approach to Portuguese studies, related to my search for transcultural condition and the criticism concerning the Portuguese search for universalism. During my stays in Lisbon, I could gather the materials that are not available in Poland -- on both occasions I came home with an over-sized luggage containing more than 20 kg of working material that will be useful in my further studies, concerning mainly António Vieira and Fernando Pessoa. In fact, the results of this project are thus not only the two monographs that are published right now. It also marks the beginning of new lines of research. On the other hand, it helps me to complete some older endeavors that hopefully I will publish as soon as I find more founding, i.e. first of all, a useful volume of "lectures and interludes in Portuguese literature from Romanticism to the present" -- an extensive reference work that is still missing on the Polish book market. It should complete and actualize my earlier, and very modest contribution, Współczesna proza portugalska (1939-1999). Tematy, problemy, obsesje, that is more than fifteen years old now.