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In Saramagos’s novel, The Elephant’s Journey, the elephant lives at the Jeronimos Monastery, a Manueline-style structure in Lisbon that dates back to the 15th century. The monastery is also where Saramago took his second wife, Pilar del Rio, the day they met to see the grave of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. “I traveled looking for the Lisbon of Ricardo Reis of the 1930’s,” del Rio told me, referring to one of Pessoa’s pen names and the main character of Saramago’s The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. “But that obviously didn’t exist anymore. Ricardo Reis didn’t show up, but José Saramago did. We walked through streets full of past and history, we followed the talks of the book and for many hours we had the feeling of being out of time, living another reality.” Olivia Katrandjian: Traveling Through Jose Saramago’s Portugal

In Saramagos’s novel, The Elephant’s Journey, the elephant lives at the Jeronimos Monastery, a Manueline-style structure in Lisbon that dates back to the 15th century.

The monastery is also where Saramago took his second wife, Pilar del Rio, the day they met to see the grave of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

“I traveled looking for the Lisbon of Ricardo Reis of the 1930’s,” del Rio told me, referring to one of Pessoa’s pen names and the main character of Saramago’s The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. “But that obviously didn’t exist anymore. Ricardo Reis didn’t show up, but José Saramago did. We walked through streets full of past and history, we followed the talks of the book and for many hours we had the feeling of being out of time, living another reality.”

Olivia Katrandjian: Traveling Through Jose Saramago’s Portugal

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