Literature and engagement in José Saramago

Abstract

José Saramago's engagement, a term recovered with the meaning proposed by Jean-Paul Sartre (2014), resides not only in his attitude of actively positioning himself in the most different public issues and actions, but in the rewriting of writing and by the attitude of bringing in its narrative what concerns the social and political questions. From Ensaio sobre a Lucidez and the revision of the concept of ideology in the light of authors such as Althusser (1996), Eagleton (2011), White (2001) and Žižek (1996), this text presents a reading of how the writer elaborates that we propose as a new ideological model and the implications on his work. The results of this discussion indicate that the new ideological formation proposed by the writer is defined by the constant escape from the asphyxiation of alienation, given by reflection, indignation and constant reinvention as signs for a possible construction of new ways of inhabiting the world. This is because he understands that literature is no more or less than part of life and should therefore be a place of debate about the premises that structure and legitimize the ideological games that govern human gestures and attitudes that ultimately constitute society.