Cain - Hardcover

Saramago, Jose

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0547419899 ISBN 13: 9780547419893

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011

Synopsis

“Suitably disturbing—and a pleasure to read.” — The Scotsman

In this, his last novel, José Saramago daringly reimagines the characters and narratives of the Old Testament, recalling his provocative The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. His tale runs from the Garden of Eden, when God realizes he has forgotten to give Adam and Eve the gift of speech, to the moment when Noah’s Ark lands on the dry peak of Ararat. Cain, the despised, the murderer, is Saramago’s protagonist.

Condemned to wander forever after he kills his brother Abel, Cain makes his way through the world in the company of a personable donkey. He is a witness to and participant in the stories of Isaac and Abraham, the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Moses and the golden calf, the trials of Job. The rapacious Queen Lilith takes him as her lover. An old man with two sheep on a rope crosses his path. And again and again, Cain encounters a God whose actions seem callous, cruel, and unjust. He confronts Him, he argues with Him. “And one thing we know for certain,” Saramago writes, “is that they continued to argue and are arguing still.”

A startling book—sensual, funny—in all ways a fitting end to Saramago’s extraordinary career.

About this title

Review:

"Jose Saramago's final novel is an inventory of God's less noble moments... as flawed and wonderful a place to inhabit as the world his cosmic nemesis created." (The Sunday Herald)

"Every page of this novella, translated with a fluent and light touch by Margaret Jull Costa, has its charm. Every page raises difficult questions... as the final testament of Portuguese master, it is suitably disturbing and a pleasure to read." (Scotsman)

"Cain reminds us why Saramago's work remains vitally important." (Metro)

"There are some very funny moments in this reimagining of the story of Adam and Eve's fratricidal son... Hats must be doffed once again to Margaret Jull Costa, Saramago's fearless long-time translator, for taming his punctuation-free prose, rendering ti not only readable, but enjoyable, and for bringing the late Portuguese author's often challenging work to a worldwide readership." (Financial Times)

"Saramago's breathless prose, expertly rendered into English by Margaret Jull Costa... conveys the sheer enjoyment of a writer bowing out at the top of his form." (The Sunday Times)

Book Description:

The last novel to be written before the death of the great Portuguese novelist and Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, who passed away in June 2010 - a controversial book in the mode of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0547419899
• ISBN 13: 9780547419893
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 159