Small Memories

Small Memories is a . . . nourishing last gift from a great writer. <i>Washington Post</i> <br>Shifting back and forth between childhood and his teenage years, between Azinhaga and Lisbon, this is a mosaic of memories, a simply told, affecting look into the author s boyhood: the tragic death of his older brother at the age of four; his mother pawning the family s blankets every spring and buying them back in time for winter; his beloved grandparents bringing the weaker piglets into their bed on cold nights; and Saramago s early encounters with literature, from teaching himself to read by deciphering articles in the daily newspaper, to poring over an entertaining dialogue in a Portuguese-French conversation guide, not realizing that he was in fact reading a play by Moliere. <br>Written with Saramago s characteristic wit and honesty, <i>Small Memories</i> traces the formation of an artist fascinated by words and stories from an early age who emerged, against all odds, as one of the world s most respected writers. <br> Like a nostalgic progenitor bestowing his wealth of life experience upon a younger generation, Saramago digs deep into his peasant roots to sketch a rough outline of the little boy who would become one of the greatest Portuguese-language writers <i>Portland Oregonian</i> <br><b>Jose Saramago</b> (1922 2010) was the author of many novels, among them <i>Blindness</i>, <i>All the Names</i>, <i>Baltasar and Blimunda</i> and <i>The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis</i>. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.<br>"