The César Manrique Foundation (FCM) joins the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of José Saramago with the organization of a double event this Friday, October 7. On the one hand, the philosopher Sami Naïr will present the latest book by Fernando Gómez Aguilera, “José Saramago. The bird that tweets perched on the rhinoceros”, and, on the other hand, a round table entitled “Saramago. Conscience of the inexhaustible word”, in which Sami Naïr, Pilar del Río, Juan Cruz, Pepa Bueno and Gómez Aguilera himself will participate.
The events will begin at 7:00 p.m., at the FCM headquarters, in Taro de Tahíche, with the presentation of the book, published by La Umbría y la Solana (Madrid), which includes a prologue by Pilar del Río, wife of the Portuguese writer and president of the José Saramago Foundation, and illustrations by Eduardo Montero Fernández de Bobadilla. In the presentation, the author and the presenter will be accompanied by Pilar del Río and the publisher of the publication, Feliciano Novoa.
In this book, Gómez Aguilera, a specialist in the work of José Saramago, dissects most of the Portuguese Nobel Prize winner's narrative installments written from 1993 onwards - when he established his residence in Lanzarote, after the controversy generated after the publication of “The Gospel according to Jesus Christ” - and also includes critical readings of the titles published after the Nobel Prize winner's death.
In the author's opinion, in this period Saramago opens a significant stage in terms of the “construction of parables or allegories that raise major conflicts of a universal nature linked to post-industrial societies in the context of globalization”. This, associated with "a questioning, uncomfortable discourse, of sharp critical analysis, in which limit situations are put into play and the problematic individual and social nature of the human being in our days is deepened".
According to Pilar del Río, the author carries out a meticulous study providing his reflections to assess the impact and meaning of the Portuguese writer's work. “Too often human beings are islands, they are part of a common archipelago, humanity, but they do not finish building the necessary bridges for communication, and thus they let time pass, from solitude to solitude. José Saramago did not have that problem, he arrived on the island of Lanzarote and met Fernando Gómez Aguilera, that is, he found the possibility of conversation and never felt alone. […] This book is proof that José Saramago and Fernando Gómez Aguilera were never islands and also that the island of Lanzarote, due to the constructive intervention of both, is a continent populated in the reading experience of many men and women in the world”, he points out in the prologue.
In the second part of the day, around 7:45 p.m., the round table “Saramago. Conscience of the inexhaustible word”, on the literary production and civic commitment of José Saramago, in which in addition to Sami Naïr, Pilar del Río and Fernando Gómez Aguilera himself, the journalist and editor Juan Cruz and the journalist Pepa Bueno, who currently directs the newspaper El País, will participate. It will be moderated by the journalist Isabel Lusarreta, director of La Voz de Lanzarote.
Public attendance is free until full capacity is reached and the use of masks inside the room is recommended.
