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one poor researcher became lost in the labyrinthine catacombs of the archive of the dead, having come to the Central Registry in order to carry out some genealogical research he had been commissioned to undertake. He was discovered, almost miraculously, after a week, starving, thirsty, exhausted, delirious, having survived thanks to the desperate measure of ingesting enormous quantities of old documents that neither lingered in the stomach nor nourished, since they melted in the mouth without requiring any chewing.The nondescript Senhor José labors long and thanklessly among the archives; his is a tepid, lonely life with only one small hobby to leaven his leisure hours: he collects "news items about those people in his country who, for good reasons and bad, had become famous." One night, it occurs to him that "something fundamental was missing from his collection, that is, the origin, the root, the source, in other words, the actual birth certificate of these famous people"--and that the information is within easy reach on the other side of a connecting door that separates his meager lodgings from the Registry itself. And so begins Senhor José's midnight raids on the stacks as he shuttles between the Registry and his own room bearing precious records that he carefully copies before returning them to their rightful places. Still, this minor aberration might have remained the clerk's only transgression if not for a simple act of fate: one night, along with his celebrity records, he accidentally picks up a birth certificate belonging to an ordinary, unknown woman--a woman who becomes suddenly more important than all the others precisely because she is unknown. Celebrity is cast aside as Senhor José begins a search for this mysterious quarry--a quest that will lead him into conflict with his superior, the Registrar, and ensnare him in the kind of messy personal histories and tangled relationships he has thus far avoided in his own life.
A recurring theme in many of Saramago's novels is the very human struggle between withdrawal and connection. Whether it is the Iberian peninsula literally breaking off from the rest of Europe in The Stone Raft or an entire country afflicted by a devastating malady in Blindness, he is fascinated by the effects of isolation on the human soul and, correspondingly, the redemptive power of compassion. All the Names continues to mine this rich vein as the repressed clerk follows his unknown Ariadne's thread out of the labyrinth of his own strangled psyche and into life. Readers will find here Saramago's trademark love of the absurd, his brilliant imagery and idiosyncratic punctuation, as well as the unflinching yet tender honesty with which he chronicles the human condition. --Alix Wilber
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. A subtle and insightful story about boredom, passion, curiosity and memory from the Nobel Prize-winner Jose SaramagoA subtle and insightful story about boredom, passion, curiosity and memory from the Nobel Prize-winner Jose SaramagoSenhor Jose is a lonely civil servant who spends his days labouring in the labyrinthine stacks of Lisbon's central registry. Among the file-cards for the living and the dead, one - of an apparently ordinary woman - will transform his life. Breaking away from his strict routine, Jose resolves to track the woman down, obsessively following a thread of clues in a bid to rescue her from an oblivion deeper than the grave.'When a very good book finds us at just the right moment in life, it can become stitched into our own identity. All the Names - a novel about identity and connection - has become stitched into mine' Samantha Harvey, Independent Senhor Jose is a minor official in a registry office, with a passion for reconstructing people's lives from the data in archive documents. One woman's file is particularly intriguing. She is dead, and he decides to trace her life backwards, from death to birth. But can he bring her back to life? Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781860467202
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 6400427
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9781860467202
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9781860467202
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9781860467202-GDR
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 256 pages. 7.76x5.08x0.63 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1860467202
Book Description Condition: New. In English. Seller Inventory # ria9781860467202_new
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Senhor Jose is a minor official in a registry office, with a passion for reconstructing people's lives from the data in archive documents. One woman's file is particularly intriguing. She is dead, and he decides to trace her life backwards, from death to birth. But can he bring her back to life?. Seller Inventory # B9781860467202
Book Description Condition: New. 2000. Paperback. Senhor Jose is a minor official in a registry office, with a passion for reconstructing people's lives from the data in archive documents. One woman's file is particularly intriguing. She is dead, and he decides to trace her life backwards, from death to birth. But can he bring her back to life? Translator(s): Jull Costa, Margaret. Num Pages: 256 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 198 x 130 x 16. Weight in Grams: 192. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9781860467202
Book Description Condition: New. 2000. Paperback. Senhor Jose is a minor official in a registry office, with a passion for reconstructing people's lives from the data in archive documents. One woman's file is particularly intriguing. She is dead, and he decides to trace her life backwards, from death to birth. But can he bring her back to life? Translator(s): Jull Costa, Margaret. Num Pages: 256 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 198 x 130 x 16. Weight in Grams: 192. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9781860467202