Death is serious even when it makes you laugh: José Saramago’s disconcerting laughter

Abstract

Known for novels that deal with serious and uplifting themes, José Saramago, in his last phase of novel production, presents us with a humorous face, which comprises the last three novels published in his lifetime. In this article, we seek to read the first of this triad, As intermitências da morte (2005), in which is presented an unusual universe since the strike of a death-character that claims his rights to be noticed. A serious matter par excellence, it is worked through humour, and causes a disconcerting laugh in the reader, impelling him to reflect on his own condition as a human being. Based on the studies of Hutcheon (1985), Duarte (2006), Propp (1992), D'Angelli and Paduano (2007), Alberti (1999), Minois (2003) and Roas (2014), it is possible to observe how the narrative transcends reality, subverting it through laugh, parody and irony, as well as by resorting to the fantastic. These elements are responsible for motivating a new reflection on the topic of death. The disconcerting laugh in this novel acts as an indication that we need to review our way of seeing death and transform ourselves from this reflection. It is possible to infer that, through the fantastic, Saramago stimulates the intellectual and ethical development of the subject and demands boldness to transcend the old and find a new meaning for death.