Synopsis
Lisbon circa 1935 comes to life with lyrical intensity in the story of a doctor who forsakes medicine to recite poetry in the streets, the women in his life, and the ghost who occasionally accompanies him
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Reviews
Ricardo Reis, "age, forty-eight, place of birth, Oporto, marital status, bachelor, profession, doctor, last place of residence, Rio de Janeiro," returns to his native Portugal in 1936 as Europe rattles toward war. Published to acclaim in Portugal in 1984, this novel--full of poetry and philosophical musings--traffics over many levels: there is the world-weary Reis, coming home (perhaps) to die; there is an aging Europe, on the eve of its worst hours, seen from the peculiar vantage of a tiny country whose soul has removed to Brazil; and there is the great Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa who, though dead, visits Reis in his rooms and in cafes, wryly discoursing about life as seen from the other side. Saramago evokes an unforgettable image of Lisbon--surreal and ludicrous--an odd but affecting mix of elegy and gothic humor. Readers alert to subtleties may suspect that Reis is actually a pen name used by Pessoa, and that the women who haunt Reis--frail Marcenda with the paralyzed hand and Lydia, the maid whom he regularly beds, are figments of Pessoa's poetry finally laid to to rest. This extraordinarily nuanced work alternates a sunlit Borgesian playfulness with darker, more obsessive musings in what is altogether a bravura performance.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Bay State Book Company, North Smithfield, RI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: acceptable. The book is complete and readable, with all pages and cover intact. Dust jacket, shrink wrap, or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may have light notes, highlighting, or minor water exposure, but nothing that affects readability. May be an ex-library copy and could include library markings or stickers. Seller Inventory # BSM.11B0G
Seller Image
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Bay State Book Company, North Smithfield, RI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: very_good. Seller Inventory # BSM.13FJG
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Half Price Books Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Seller Inventory # S_473349702
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. Missing dust jacket; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0151997357I4N01
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Goodwill of Greater Milwaukee and Chicago, Racine, WI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: acceptable. Book is considered to be in acceptable condition. The actual cover image may not match the stock photo. Book may have one or more of the following defects: noticeable wear on the cover dust jacket or spine; curved, dog eared or creased page s ; writing or highlighting inside or on the edges; sticker s or other adhesive on cover; CD DVD may not be included; and book may be a former library copy. Seller Inventory # SEWV.0151997357.A
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
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Harcourt, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
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Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Jay W. Nelson, Bookseller, IOBA, Austin, MN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. Near fine book and jacket. Previous owner inscription. Seller Inventory # 128258
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: zenosbooks, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good in Dustjacket. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. San Diego. 1991. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0151997357. Translated from the Portuguese by Giovanni Pontiero. 358 pages. hardcover. keywords: Europe Portugal Literature Translated World Literature. DESCRIPTION - The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (in Portuguese: O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis) is a 1984 novel by Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in literature. It tells the story of the final year in the life of the title character, Ricardo Reis, one of the many heteronyms used by the Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa. In the novel, Ricardo Reis returns to Lisbon from Brazil, upon receiving word of Pessoa's death. While there, he chooses not to resume his practice of medicine, but rather takes up residence in a hotel where he wastes his days reading newspapers and wandering the streets of Lisbon. The novel was translated into English by Giovanni Pontiero in 1991 and won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The novel addresses several powerful literary themes, but most of them indirectly. For instance, Reis reads of the events leading to the Spanish Civil War, and he sees floods of Spanish immigrants arrive in Lisbon seeking refuge, but he himself never expresses strong feelings or even a cogent understanding of the meaning of the conflict. Reis also carries on a lackluster love affair, but even in what seem to be his most intimate relationships, he is continually and voluntarily alienated from society. The most revealing glimpse of Reis is in a series of conversations with the spirit of Fernando Pessoa, over the course of which Reis loses a clear concept of the nature of life and death and the difference between the two. In the novel's final scene, Reis dies by calmly putting on his jacket and following Pessoa to the graveyard. Ultimately, it is a story of one man's attempt to resist any sort of cultural contextualization and reject any place in society whatsoever. This book is also, in some sense, an exercise in meta-literature. Fernando Pessoa created the character of Ricardo Reis fifty years or more before this novel was written, giving him a biography and writing many poems in that name. That Saramago would place the two characters side by side suggests a deliberate blurring of the boundaries between fantasy and reality, a theme common in Saramago's work, and a rejection of traditional limitations on narrative practices. Reis spends much of his time reading a novel called The God of the Labyrinth, a fictional novel mentioned by Jorge Luis Borges and attributed to the title character of his short story A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis is written in Saramago's distinctive style, in which he uses no punctuation except commas and periods, denoting dialogue and changes of speaker using only capital letters. He uses long, flowing sentences and paragraphs often several pages in length. Saramago also digresses from the story frequently, occasionally even in the first person, remarking philosophically on the significance of images, objects or situations encountered in the story. Saramago's writing technique often has strong magical-realist elements. inventory #9829. Seller Inventory # z9829
Seller Image
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Book House in Dinkytown, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991; stated first U.S. edition; 358pp. Very good hardcover from a personal collection (NOT ex-library). Binding is tight, sturdy and square; blue and black quarter-cloth boards very good; blue titling bright and bold. Ends of spine lightly bumped; corners lightly bumped and worn. Unclipped dust jacket is very good with light wear to ends of spine and corners. Interior is free of previous owner markings. Ships same or next day from Dinkytown, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Seller Inventory # 333934
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Published by
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Garys Books-Log Cabin Books, Apache Junction, AZ, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 0151997357 First Print. First edition. NOT inscribed, clipped or otherwise marked. Shipped in a box with a protective cover on dust jacket. Alphabet ABCDE. Book looks new. Seller Inventory # ABE-11186803007
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The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
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San Diego, California: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1991
ISBN 10: 0151997357
ISBN 13: 9780151997350
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Time Tested Books, Sacramento, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. "First United States edition A B C D E " stated. Fine hardback in fine dust jacket (>$21.95 (Higher in Canada)). Only trivial, if any signs of age/wear/previous use to book and dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 103771