Manual de Pintura e Caligrafia

By José Saramago

Book Overview

From the Nobel Prize winning author--a novel that takes us into the last days of Salazar's dictatorship when a second-rate artist is commissioned by a wealthy client to paint a portrait and the political and intellectual struggles that ensue.

Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was Jos Saramago's first novel. Written eight years before the critically acclaimed Baltasar and Blimunda, it is a story of self-discovery set against the background of the last years of Salazar's dictatorship. A struggling young artist, commissioned to paint a portrait of an influential industrialist, learns in the process about himself and the world around him. The brilliant juxtaposition of a passionate love story and the crisis of a nation foreshadows all of Saramago's major works. A must-have for any devotee of the great Portuguese Nobel laureate, Manual of Painting and Calligraphy is now available in the United States.

"Taut and compelling." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Beautifully realized, heartbreakingly honest." -- Providence Journal-Bulletin

"Almost impossible to put down." -- Austin American-Statesman

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547640226
• ISBN13: 9780547640228
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Filosofia para la gente comun

This book is not an adventure novel. The title of the book may seem like a self-help book, it isn't! It is about one man's decision to understand himself because he feels mediocre. It took a while to finish the book because it is the voice of one person writing down his thoughts about his painting, his lovers and friends, so it is full of philosophical ideas.