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Journey to Portugal: A Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture Paperback – 24 Jan. 2002

by José Saramago (Author)

4.0 144 ratings

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From the misty mountains of the north to the southern seascape of the Algarve, the travels of Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago are a passionate rediscovery of his own land.

Setting off in his veteran motor car, Saramago wants to travel to Portugal, as well as through it: by making it his destination the acclaimed writer hopes to take stock of his native land as it hovers on the edge of the modern world. He is no typical guide - he avoids the "sights" in favour of a remote Romanesque church, a cobweb-ridden chapel, the local and the domestic - but, with his deep fount of memory and erudite knowledge, each encounter evoking the span of Portugal's history, he is anyone's idea of a delightful travelling companion.

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Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

24 Jan. 2002
Dimensions

12.9 x 2.9 x 19.8 cm
ISBN-10

1860468721
ISBN-13

978-1860468728
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From the Publisher

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Review

"No portico, farmhouse or ancient church is left undisturbed in Saramago's readable, if labyrinthine, tale of travelling across his homeland in 1979" (Samuel Muston Independent)

"None but a Portuguese could have written this book; none but Saramago could produce travel writing like this. It is a wholly appropriate tribute to that astonishing juncture where the sea ends and the land begins" (Henry Sheen New Statesman)

"A book that...is a search for his country's heartbeat... The writing is, as always with Saramago, dense: a labyrinth of meaning and innuendo. But what is clear is that he loves Portugal." (Simon Blow Independent on Sunday)

"One feels privileged to be in his company... This book is a joy to pick up and a delight to read" (Hugh O'Shaughnessy Tablet)

About the Author

José Saramago is one of the most important international writers of thelast hundred years. Born in Portugal in 1922, he was in his sixties when he came to prominence as a writer with the publication of Baltasar and Blimunda. A huge body of work followed, translated into more than forty languages, and in 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Saramago died in June 2010.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (24 Jan. 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1860468721
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1860468728
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 2.9 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 705,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3,941 in Food & Travel Writing
- 6,829 in Travel Writing (Books)
- 8,497 in Religious History of Christianity

Customer reviews:
4.0 144 ratings

About the author

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José Saramago

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JOSE SARAMAGO is one of the most acclaimed writers in the world today. He is the author of numerous novels, including All the Names, Blindness, and The Cave. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 February 2016

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Prompt delivery, impeccable item.

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Anru

Disappointing ramble through Portugal

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2017

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The traveller aims to tell the story of the people in context to enlighten the reader but did not succeed for me. Too many churches and not enough people.

2 people found this helpful

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jamonjamon

Irritation copiously abounds

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 April 2018

Very disappointing. On the back cover one critic describes this as “dense: a labyrinth of meaning and innuendo”, but while it is certainly dense it is all to very little effect. Not the least of the irritations is the way Saramago insists on calling himself “the traveller”. If (let’s be charitable) this is supposed to be self-effacing, the effect is entirely the reverse: it’s portentious. His travels take him to endless churches - he loves the Romanesque - but you get little sense of what these are actually like, and also less frequently to what often seem rather uncomfortable meetings with the people who live along his route. Saramago comes across as self absorbed and rather misanthropic, but the main problem is that the writing is absurdly contrived. I gave up around page 90 a few pages after the following sentence: "And as the traveller can’t itemise all he sees, he merely insists on making mention of a small “Descent from the Cross”, a miracle of rigour and perfection attributed to Machado de Castro and worth more than all the cribs and other carvings in which this art form copiously abounds”. If phrases like "copiously abounds" are your thing then you’ll love this. But FFS. If you are hoping for an introduction to, or an interesting take on, Portuguese history, art and culture, this is not going to be it.

2 people found this helpful

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Ms C S Kelly

Definitely not for tourists!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2016

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Hard going overall. If you love churches, you'll like this. If not, this is quite a difficult way to discover Portugal. Beautifully translated into English but I suspect it's better in the original Portuguese.

4 people found this helpful

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Earthshaker

Maybe you have to be Portuguese

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 July 2010

José Saramago begins his travels in his native land in an unusual fashion: he leaves the country. The opening paragraphs see him crossing the bridge from Spain into the far north-eastern corner of Portugal, savouring the experience of arrival. From here, he criss-crosses the country, leaving no corner unvisited until he passes along the Algarve months later.

It is an exhaustive itinerary, and apart from the interesting conceit at the start, not one which springs any formal suprises on the reader. Saramago's remit seems to have been to persuade the Portuguese to pay attention to a heritage that, at the time he wrote (late 1970s) was crumbling through neglect. Accordingly, the focus is firmly on the things visited and not - in contrast to much modern travel writing - on the traveller. The narrator - always referred to simply as "the traveller", never "I" - remains a rather shadowy figure, acquiring little in the way of character apart from a slight tendency to tetchiness and a nervousness of dogs.

In line with Saramago's apparent mission, the coverage of his native country's built and painted heritage is largely laudatory, which makes for a certain monotony of tone - I would have enjoyed having the traveller encounter something he really hated, for the sake of variety. Also problematic, in this translation, is the level of background knowledge assumed. Each chapter concludes with some notes expanding on allusions, but there are many others that remain unexplained and the process of choosing which to footnote and which to leave seems to have been random. So, for instance, Saramago can write of a particular town having witnessed the meeting of two historical characters "as we all learned at school"; he can allude, near Olivenza / Olivença, to a border dispute with Spain; and he can refer repeatedly to the Battle of Aljubarrota as a founding moment in Portuguese history; but in all these cases no is footnote provided to explain for Anglophones. (Aljubarrota, fought in 1385, saw João I defeat Castile to cement Portuguese independence: the following year the newly-secure state signed the Treaty of Windsor with England, making Portugal England's oldest ally).

So, for the non-Portuguese reader, a frustrating exercise: a future edition would serve Saramago better by including far more editorial apparatus. Even with that provided, however, I think that for the Anglophone this would probably remain a frustrating work: Saramago here is not concerned to show Portugal to the outsiders, to make it picturesque and appealing to the tourist, but to have a conversation with his own countrymen and women and persuade them to look not merely at the treasures of Italy or France, but closer to home, to their own country.

17 people found this helpful

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Jeremy Persaud

Saramago loses his way

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2010

As someone with a Portuguese heritage - I desperately wanted to like this book. The countless holidays I have spent there with friends and family has revealed a country rich in history, culture and tradition. A friendly and vibrant country, with great cuisine and wines - stunning vistas and varied regions, I thought having searched for so long for a travel book to do it justice - who better than a Portuguese Nobel prize winning author. Wrong! Saramago's words are as dry and dusty as the stones in the old churches that he visits an interminable amount of times - on his journey through a cold and dull country I barely recognise.
I was looking for smart observation and keen insight into the culture - amusing anecdotes, humouress encounters with the natives, no such luck! I would avoid this book if your looking for a literary companion to your travels in Portugal. Though there is certainly a dirth of decent travelogs on Portugal, I would wait until Mssrs Bryson or someone else happens down the Iberian Peninsula. Avoid.

22 people found this helpful

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Vicente del Rio

Great book by a laureate author

Reviewed in the United States on 26 January 2019

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This book is a labour of love about Portugal by the country's most respected and laureate contemporary write. Saramago takes us on a journal to the regions and cities, past and present. The writing is a bit dense and this is not a typical history book, more of a free-flow narrative.

12 people found this helpful

lacarte

作者とともにポルトガルを旅しよう

Reviewed in Japan on 10 May 2008

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車に乗って、ポルトガルを北から南へくまなくまわるひとり旅。その旅行記が本書である。ドゥーロ川のせせらぎからファロの岬まで、その場所の過去、現在、伝説、暮らしをこと細かく紹介している。日本の1/4にも満たない国土を４５０ページほどに渡って美しい言葉と決して多くはないが、想像をかきたてるには十分な写真（白黒）で綴っている本書は心の奥に眠っている旅への憧れを呼び起こす良書である。

本書の英語は格調高いとはいかないまでも、それなりに文学的な表現が多いため、ちょっとした小説がすらすら読める実力でも辞書に手が伸びる。しかし、辞書片手でもこのすばらしい旅に同行する価値は十分あるように思う。

3 people found this helpful

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Pat Oshiro

This book is slow reading.

Reviewed in the United States on 6 October 2023

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I wanted to learn more about Portugal to prepare for trip next year.

Amazon Customer

Very good customer service

Reviewed in Canada on 20 November 2019

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This book was purchased as a gift.

Kindle Customer

Excellent travelogue

Reviewed in the United States on 26 January 2017

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I love travelogues and this one is no exception. I'm planning a trip to Portugal and wanted to read this before going. Saramago is a bit difficult to read at times but his wit and insight bring a warmth to the book that can sometimes be missing. I'm already planning on reading it again.

4 people found this helpful

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Journey to Portugal: A Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture Paperback – 24 Jan. 2002

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