A REPRESENTAÇÃO DA MEMÓRIA E DO ESPAÇO EM JOSÉ SARAMAGO: Uma leitura de Ensaio sobre a cegueira

Abstract

This research proposes an analysis of the novel Blindness (1995), by José Saramago, based on the categories of memory and space, with the aim of understanding how these elements are articulated in the narrative and symbolic construction of the work. The novel is configured as a rupture with Portuguese literary traditions, by proposing new forms of composition of characters, time and space, marked by a profound critique of the human condition and contemporary social organization. The sudden and inexplicable blindness that affects an entire population is explored as a metaphor for the loss of moral, social and historical references, evidencing a process of erasure of individual and collective memories. In this context, memory plays a central role, not only as a thematic resource, but also as a constitutive structure of the narrative and of the subjects that inhabit it. At the same time, space is represented not only in its physical dimension, but above all as a symbolic and affective territory, revealing itself as a place of resignification and resistance in the face of adversity. The theoretical foundation of the research is based on interdisciplinary contributions, especially in the fields of Literature and Humanistic Geography, with emphasis on the works of Maurice Halbwachs, Eric Dardel, Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph. From this perspective, the aim is to problematize the ways in which Saramago's novel strains the boundaries between the individual and the collective, the visible and the invisible, the lived space and the symbolic space. Thus, the research offers a relevant contribution to the debate about the representation of social and existential phenomena in contemporary literature.