- Title: FILE/GERMANY: Nobel-prize winning author Jose Saramago dies in Lanzarote ages 87
- Date: 19th June 2010
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JOSE SARAMAGO WITH WELL WISHERS AND NEWS CREWS TRACK SARAMAGO ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE BOOKS ON SHELF (SOUDBITE) (Portuguese) NOBEL PRIZE WINNER, JOSE SARAMAGO, SAYING: "Imagine if I had stayed here and I hadn't won the prize: I would have missed my flight and it would have been very humiliating. I got a call from my publisher telling me I had won and I needed to go back. Five minutes later I would have been on the plane and 10 minutes later the plane would have taken off" MEDIA (SOUDBITE) (Portuguese) NOBEL PRIZE WINNER, JOSE SARAMAGO SAYING: "I think others maybe deserve the prize more than I do. The Portuguese language which is under threat at the moment may also be revived by this prize. The prize will draw attention to the cultural aspects of the Portuguese language and enable it to be heard more widely"
- Embargoed: 4th July 2010 13:00
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- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVA27DO5GF8B5YZREIK2OEQR8VNQ
- Story Text: Portuguese Nobel-prize winning author Jose Saramago has died at his home on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, aged 87, his Spanish editor Alfaguara said on Friday.
Saramago, a card-carrying member of Portugal's Communist Party who won the Nobel prize in 1998, was known for combining magical realism with hard-edged political comment, often harshly criticising Portuguese history, conservatism and religion.
The Saramago Foundation said he had died of multiple organ failure after a prolonged illness.
"I think this is a great loss for Portuguese culture," Prime Minister Jose Socrates told journalists. "His works have made Portugal proud, his death will leave our culture poorer."
Saramago, who had courted controversy throughout his long career, angered the Catholic Church last year when he said at the launch of his last book, Cain, that the Bible was "a handbook of bad morals" and a "catalogue of what is worst in human nature".
Saramago went into self-imposed exile in 1992 after the Portuguese government excluded his novel "The Gospel according to Jesus Christ" from a list of official recommendations for a literary prize. He had lived in Lanzarote since then.
The novel, which depicts Jesus as the son of Joseph, not God, had come under fire from the Vatican and Saramago accused the Portuguese government of censorhip. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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