Zhoze Saramago - odin iz krupnejshikh pisatelej sovremennoj Portugalii, laureat Nobelevskoj premii po literature 1998 goda, avtor skandalno znamenitogo "Evangelija ot Iisusa". "Vospominanija o monastyre" prinjato sravnivat s vypuschennym v to zhe vremja "Imenem rozy" Umberto Eko; ro man Saramago takzhe byl pereveden na desjatki jazykov i stal mezhdunarodnym bestsellerom. Itak, v drevnem portugalskom gorode Mafra, gde Zhuan Pjatyj dal korolevskoe povelenie stroit monastyr, razvorachivaetsja epicheskaja istorija ljubvi Baltazara Sem Solnts i Blimundy Sem Lun. Poterjav na vojne ruku, Baltazar obzavelsja dvumja protezami, s krjukom i sab lej. Imi on mozhet otbitsja ot razbojnikov, mozhet pomogat na strojke, a mozhet - sobrat dlja iezuita Bartolomeo li Gusmana dikovinnuju mashinu passarolu, pokhozhuju na ptitsu. I kak passarola stremitsja vvys, stremjatsja vvys i steny vozvodi mogo v Mafre monastyrja... Federiko Fellini govoril, chto eto odin iz samykh interesnykh romanov, kotorye emu prikhodi los chitat, i planiroval ekranizatsiju "Vospominanij..." uvy, nesostojavshujusja. A po motivam romana v milanskom teat-re "La Skala" byla postavlena onera "Baltazar i Blimunda".
José de Sousa Saramago (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese novelist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony [with which he] continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality." His works, some of which have been seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the theopoetic. In 2003 Harold Bloom described Saramago as "the most gifted novelist alive in the world today."