O ano da morte de Ricardo Reis: Caminhos labirínticos

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the novel O ano da morte de Ricardo Reis, by José Saramago, focusing on the analysis of the historical labyrinth and the interrelationship that is established between it and other labyrinths that are present in the novel. In the novel that is the subject of

this work, Ricardo Reis, Fernando Pessoa's heteronym, is returning to Portugal after his self- exile in Brazil and will find not only a country, but also the European continent in a scenario

of profound changes. The year 1936 does not allow Reis to be just an observer of the world's spectacle, being impelled to change his contemplative and alienated identity. In this way, the character who ends the novel is not the same as the one who begins the novel. The reader's reality does not allow him to be a mere observer of the spectacle around him, in the same way that the character's reality does not allow for obliviousness. Reis will be impelled to seek a new identification in the new configuration of reality in which he was inserted, by Saramago, going through countless labyrinths that are interrelated, as the narrative develops. We have, for example, the physical labyrinth of Lisbon and its identity, the sentimental labyrinth, the intertextual labyrinth, and the historical labyrinth. To present a discussion about the historical labyrinth and its interrelation with the other labyrinths that we observe in the work, the text takes shape from the writings of Penelope Reed Doob, Eduardo Lourenço, Orlando Grossegesse, Carlos Reis and Teresa Cristina Cerdeira, researchers who will provide us with a great theoretical framework to address the issues addressed by this dissertation.