What will you do with this book? Camões in Saramago

Abstract

This article examines the presence of Camões in the work of José Saramago, drawing on examples from poetry, theater, chronicles, and novels. A lecture by Jorge Luis Borges on Camões is revisited in order to deepen the reflection on the literary tributes paid by readerwriters and to situate Saramago within this network of readings. The analysis of episodes, figures, and verses from Camões in various works by the Portuguese Nobel laureate highlights the intertextual and critical dimensions of this dialogue. The article shows that Saramago’s engagement with Camões does not imply an uncritical adherence to the canon, but rather constitutes a creative appropriation that exposes different tensions, such as those related to the reception of the work and of the author of The Lusiads. In this sense, the article argues that, to a certain extent, Saramago answers the final question posed to the audience in Que farei com este livro? (What will I do with this book?). Finally, it proposes a reading of the chronicle “A cidade” (“The City”) in light of the same play, exploring the possible connections between the two narratives and the ways in which they invite us to consider authorial recognition and the inscription of Camões and, additionally, of Saramago himself within the Portuguese literary tradition.