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Nobel author Saramago dies at 87 | Nobel author Saramago dies at 87 |
(40 minutes later) | |
Saramago explored the human condition through his works | Saramago explored the human condition through his works |
Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998, has died at the age of 87, his publisher has announced. | Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998, has died at the age of 87, his publisher has announced. |
Saramago, a communist and atheist, only began to become recognised for his work in his fifties. | Saramago, a communist and atheist, only began to become recognised for his work in his fifties. |
One of his best-known novels is Blindness, written in 1995, which tells the story of a country whose entire population lose their sight. | |
He had been due to appear at Edinburgh's book festival in August. | He had been due to appear at Edinburgh's book festival in August. |
Saramago moved to Lanzarote in the early 1990s after opposition from Portugal's right-wing government to his controversial work The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. | Saramago moved to Lanzarote in the early 1990s after opposition from Portugal's right-wing government to his controversial work The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. |
The administration barred his work from being entered in the European Literary Prize on the grounds that it was offensive to Catholics. | The administration barred his work from being entered in the European Literary Prize on the grounds that it was offensive to Catholics. |
International acclaim | |
His first novel, published in 1947, was the commercially unsuccessful Terra do Pecado - or Country of Sin - a tale of peasants in crisis. | |
He returned to fiction later in his life and first won international acclaim with 1983 fantasy Memorial do Convento - published in English in 1988 as Baltasar and Blimunda. | |
Saramago's final book, Caim - with the English title Cain - was published at the end of last year. | |
Earlier in the year, El Cuaderno, or The Notebook - a compilation of blog entries including criticism of Tony Blair and the Pope - was published. | |
Speaking to BBC News last June, Saramago said: "I may have three, four years more to live, maybe less. | |
"Every time I finish a book I wait for another idea, it may not come this time, we shall see." |
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