A viagem do elefante

by José Saramago

'A viagem do elefante' é uma ideia que Saramago elaborava desde que, numa viagem a Salzburgo, na Áustria, entrou por acaso num restaurante chamado 'O Elefante'. A narrativa se baseia na viagem de um elefante chamado Salomão, que no século XVI cruzou metade da Europa, de Lisboa a Viena, por extravagâncias de um rei e um arquiduque. Dom João III, rei de Portugal e Algarves, casado com dona Catarina d’Áustria, resolveu oferecer ao arquiduque austríaco Maximiliano II, genro do imperador Carlos V, nada menos que um elefante. Esse fato histórico é o ponto de partida para José Saramago criar uma ficção em que se encontram pelos caminhos da Europa personagens reais de sangue azul, chefes de exército que quase vão às vias de fato e padres que querem exorcizar Salomão ou lhe pedir um milagre.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Portugal, Portuguese Literature, Literature, Nobel Prize, Novels

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

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."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%...

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cronicarul ziarului El Pais a caracterizat romanul lui Saramago ca „un triumf al limbajului, imaginației și umorului”. Îi dau dreptate...

Deci, mi-am făcut o imagine despre acest mic roman și despre autor. Cunosc deja fraza lui arborescentă, cu întorsături ironice (și concluzii neașteptate), știu că scrie numele personajelor cu literă mică (joão III, regele portugaliei, catarina de austria, soția preapioasă a regelui joão, supranumit el însuși mai tîrziu „cel pios”, maximilian, vărul reginei catarina, solomon, elefantul, subhro, cornacul, adică îngrijitorul lui etc.). Știu că descrie călătoria unui elefant (darul de nuntă al perechii regale portugheze pentru arhiducele Maximilian) de la curtea din Lisabona și pînă la curtea din Viena, în anul 1551. Și mai știu că bietul solomon va ajunge cu bine, după un drum foarte dificil prin ținuturile aride ale Spaniei, prin orașele Italiei, pe mare și prin trecătorile friguroase ale Alpilor. Călătoria s-a petrecut cu adevărat și a fost consemnată de istorici. Pornind de la faptul istoric sărac, Saramago a închipuit o poveste și ne oferă detaliile concrete.

Cel mai amuzant personaj din roman nu este elefantul, nici arhiducele maximilian, ci povestitorul, care e foarte locvace, chiar euforic, și ne învață la fiece pas cum să citim această carte și ce să gîndim despre lume și viață, în general. Experții în post-modernism ar zice că procedeul e agasant: naratorul e prea guraliv. Nefiind un expert în post-modernism, mă abțin. Ar mai fi de menționat o minune a elefantului (sau a sfîntului anton prin intermediul elefantului solomon). Ajuns în fața basilicii sus-numitului sfînt anton din padova, elefantul îngenunchează smerit și spune, în taină, o rugăciune latinească. Dacă nici asta nu mai este o minune veritabilă, eu chiar nu știu ce v-ar putea mulțumi, dragii mei cititori agnostici...

De pus în paralelă cu Ivo Andrić, Povestea cu elefantul vizirului (Polirom, 2020). Și cu Elif Shafak, Ucenicul arhitectului (Polirom, 2015). De la Hannibal care a trecut Alpii pe spinarea acestor monștri și a înspăimîntat Roma (în anul 218 î.e.n.), elefanții i-au obsedat mereu
pe cronicari...
(3, 5 steluțe).

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story had everything to please me. That's an original novel based on historical facts, featuring poetic and alert writing, with a subject pretext to denounce the hypocrisy and hyper-hierarchy of human relations. This fable is of the elephant Solomon offered to Austria's Archduke by the King of Portugal, Joao III, a witness to the faults of the greats of this world, the baseness of some, and the cascading manipulations. The story takes place in the 16th century, but could also occur nowadays with minimal development.
So why am I not more excited? Is it because the typography of the book is terrible? What is the author's will? I do not know. But it was difficult for me to read to the end of two hundred pages of continuous text without paragraphs within the chapters, where the fanciful punctuation places commas between the sentences, and where the layout does not distinguish between dialogue and narrative. Not to mention the non-existent capital letters, whatever the proper name is.
Some may find this reason futile, but they try! The eye is embarrassed, reading is complicated, and the pleasure of reading is diluted in constant efforts to understand sentences' meaning, sometimes running over ten lines.
A great story also serves imperfect form if good writing doesn't make a good book.

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of the book. Knowing it will not spoil the enjoyment of it one whit, if you do choose to read it.

The story is based on the Portuguese King Joao III's gift of an elephant to the Archduke Maximillian and the delivery of the gift from Lisbon to Vienna. The major characters are the elephant Solomon and his mahour Subhro. The story is of the King, what happens on the journey to the officers who escort the elephant and at the end of the journey, the Archduke. Maximillian arrogantly renames the elephant from Solomon to Suleiman and the mahout to an inappropriate "Fritz".

The end is both picaresque and that of a fairy tale. It is two years after the elephant has arrived in Vienna and he has died. They have cut him up for souvenirs and umbrella stands and the mahout has been apid off, generously, by the Archduke. The last we see of Subhro, he has reclaimed his name, is riding off on a mule, on a journey he never completes trailing a donkey who bears a wooden box containing all the possessions that mahout possesses.

A short while later, the letter announcing the death of Solomon reaches King Joao III and his wife. The king was very sad but the queen refusing to be read the contents of the letter locked herself in her room and spent the rest of the day in tears.

It is a beguiling book, the language is so beautiful, it is witty and humouros but it is not a great book, just a really enjoyable one. A fine one to finish a year of reading on.

Notes on reading the book. Saramago's The Elephant's Journey is a lot more readable* than Livius' Hannibal coming over the Alps. A Latin text I never really got to grips with. Not that I've ever got to grips with Saramago's writing style either, it's *audio or forget it for me.

So far, the writing is charmingly amusing, sly and pointed and wonderful in it's own right, never mind the story (which I am also enjoying).

[Fionnuala]

...a fall from grace can come very swiftly, or, as the Romans used to say, the Tarpeian Rock is close to the Capitol. That idea, though not that exact expression, was in my mind from the beginning of The Elephant's Journey.

A very likeable character called pêro de alcáçova carneiro features impressively in the early pages of this tale. He is secretary of state to the king of Portugal and his thinly veiled ironic responses to the monarch’s rather dim questions cause the reader to worry for his safety—we see him being thrown from the nearest high rock if he doesn’t soon mend his ways.

Although pêro is a master of nuance, the equal of many a great Shakespearian character, he doesn’t merit a capital letter in this story—characters’ names are rarely written with capitals in Saramago’s books. Nevertheless, the reader begins to hope in the early pages that pêro will play a capital part in the tale. But Saramago quickly dampens any such hopes concerning the very patient and clever pêro, whom we may not see again, although perhaps we will, because life laughs at predictions and introduces words where we imagined silences, and sudden returns when we thought we would never see each other again.

With such convoluted phrases does Saramago challenge all of our presumed ideas about narrative and its conventions from the very beginning of this story; he takes common notions, clichés almost, such as the assumption that events may be predicted or predictable, and quickly turns them, and us, inside out and upside down. The reader is wrong footed from the start here, not knowing who the main character will be in this account of the gifting of an elephant by the king of Portugal, Dom João the third, to his cousin, Maximilian the second of Austria, in 1552.

If pêro can be dropped so easily, we wonder what fate awaits subhro, the clever mahout who tends the elephant, and whom the reader begins to see as the main character (if, of course, the wise elephant (called Solomon) is not himself the main character) soon after the dispensable pêro is left behind by the story in Lisbon along with the king, an equally dispensable character it seems, for there is a welcome democracy in this tale, at least at times.

Riding through Portugal, and then across Spain, boarding a ship to cross the Mediterranean, then onwards through Northern Italy, the Alps, Austria, all while perched on top of an elephant must have seemed like a royal position in those days. Our subhro enjoys his status, high above the army of accompanying soldiers like a capital on the top of a column. But since he is as clever as pêro, he doesn’t take his temporary preeminent situation for granted, fearing every day, and every step of the journey that he will eventually be toppled, and end up where he really belongs, in the dust or the snow, whichever applies.

One particular slow day on the hazardous journey, a daydream temporarily carries subhro far off into the land of heroic deeds where he imagines himself being lauded by the entire Austrian court, but soon reality revealed itself to him exactly as it was, himself hunched on the elephant's back, almost invisible beneath the snow, the desolate image of the defeated conqueror, demonstrating yet again how close the tarpeian rock is to the capitoline hill, on the latter they crown you with laurels and from the former they fling you down, all glory vanished, all honour lost, to the place where you will leave your wretched bones.

So the uneasy feeling the reader experienced at the beginning of this tale is confirmed by Saramago’s own words; a fall from grace can come swiftly, and no one, no matter how impregnable their position, can be certain of avoiding such a fall. Saramago wrote this book quite late in his life and I wondered if he had doubts or regrets about what he had achieved in his writing career or if he worried about the security of his position as the leading Portuguese writer of the twentieth century. I didn't wonder for long, as he went on to say: The skeptics are quite right when they say that the history of humanity is one long succession of missed opportunities. Fortunately, thanks to the inexhaustible generosity of the imagination, we erase faults, fill in lacunae as best we can, forge passages through blind alleys that will remain stubbornly blind, and invent keys to doors that have never had locks. Saramago is very good at inventing keys, and with them, he opens a succession of doors in the narrative; I imagine him blithely doing the same throughout his life.

The quotes I've included demonstrate many interesting features of Saramago’s style, but this one in particular: his ability to move seamlessly from he to they to you to we and back again. And the we is sometimes the narrator and the reader, sometimes the narrator and the characters, so that we, the readers, eventually become absorbed into the narrative and the we comes to be narrator, characters and readers, all rolled up in one; we are transformed in spite of ourselves, changed utterly on reading his words because Saramago believes in the transforming power of fiction: It must be said that history is always selective, and discriminatory too, selecting from life only what society deems to be historical and scorning the rest, which is precisely where we might find the true explanation of facts, of things, of wretched reality itself. I say to you, it is better to be a novelist, a fiction writer, a liar.

Perhaps not an outright liar, but clever and inventive when it comes to filling in lacunae; while describing the beauty of the mountains through which the elephant travels, and clearly never having visited the location as any writer worthy of the name would surely do (he implies), Saramago wriggles neatly out of any precise description: words fail me, he says instead, with his tongue placed firmly in his cheek.

So, if he is championing the fictional account of this factual journey over the historical one, he does it with an entire army of nods and winks: So far, fritz (as subhro is called by the Austrians) has been a vital character at every turn, be it dramatic or comic, even at the risk of cutting a ridiculous figure whenever a pinch of the ludicrous was felt to be necessary or merely tactically advisable for the narrative, putting up with humiliations without a word of protest or a flicker of emotion, careful not to let it be known that without him, there would be no one to deliver the goods, or in this case, to take the elephant to Vienna.

Saramago delivers the goods—to adopt his own cliché (he plays with clichés when it suits him). This book is a feast of verbal treats from the end to the beginning where, like Tristram Shandy, the narrative opens with a conversation in a marital bed, a conversation in which a monarch worries that a fall from grace can come very swiftly...

[William2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is a wonderful story, especially, I think, if you have a deep connection to animals. It is the story of Solomon the Elephant and his keeper, Subhro, and their journey as a gift from King Joao III of Portugal to his cousin Archduke Maximillian (Hapsburgs) in 1540 or so. The voice is third-person historical and wonderfully relaxed and unrushed. It is a novelist's voice embellishing on historical fact:

It's hard to understand just why the archduke Maximilian should have decided to make such a journey at this time of year [winter], but that is how it is set down in history, as an incontrovertible, documented fact, supported by historians and confirmed by the novelist, who must be forgiven for taking certain liberties with names, not only because it is his right to invent, but also because he had to fill in certain gaps so that the sacred coherence of the story was not lost.

Omniscience is avoided. This is especially evident in the narrator's refusal or inability to enter the thoughts of Solomon. The animal is thus shown a certain respect and the limitations of the voice are clearly indicated:

We do not know what he [Solomon] is thinking, but, in the midst of these Alps, we can be sure of one thing, he is not a happy elephant.

As I read about the passage of the archduke and his cortege in their passage through the snowy Alps I was filled with foreboding. That's how affecting the writing is here. One is entirely taken up with the plight of this elephant, an animal of the tropics, being forced through a snowy rocky landscape. Saramago uses a run on sentence style, stringing long passages together with commas, and disdaining standard capitalization. This has the clever effect of slowing the reader down, almost as a caesura in verse, making one concentrate more intently on how the language is deployed. Saramago was both a Communist and a famous atheist. His send up of the Catholic Church, its cynicism and hypocrisy is quite amusing and is by itself worth the price of the book. Especially amusing is the "miracle" cynically wrought in Padua by an ecclesiastic of that city. Solomon is coerced to kneel by the doors of the basilica, which puts the fear of God into the populace, which also kneels. This story then precedes Solomon along his route. The Archduke is not amused by the throngs of the pious.

One bit of interesting subtext occurs when the Archduke and his cortege make their way through the dangerous Brenner Pass. For those familar with W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn you know that the Brenner Pass is central to that book and the author offers some of his enigmatic photographs of it. When Saramago's narrative reaches the Brenner pass, he begins to discuss the difficulties of descriptive writing, then says:

It's a shame that photography had not yet been invented in the sixteeth century, because the solution would have been easy as pie, we would simply have included a few photos from the period, especially if taken from a helicopter and readers would then have every reason to consider themselves amply rewarded and to recognize the extraordinary informative nature of our enterprise.

Is this a swipe at Sebald, who, according to some—Saramago may have been one—cheats by using photos? It would certainly seem so but this is speculation. Unless some lucky scholar hits paydirt, I'm afraid we'll never know.

[Sawsan · Rating 3 out of 5]

رحلة طويلة في القرن السادس عشر بصحبة الفيل سالومون
الرواية قائمة على حدث حقيقي وهو إهداء ملك البرتغال فيل هندي لملك النمسا
يحكي ساراماجو بأسلوب طريف عن مسيرة الفيل بكل أحداثها وشخصياتها
طوال الرحلة ومع خطوات الفيل البطيئة هناك مصاعب وخلافات وصراعات
يعرض خلالها ساراماجو ملامح أوروبا في أواخر القرون الوسطى
المعتقدات الدينية المختلفة ومحاكم التفتيش, الخرافات والاستغلال
ويتناول حياة البشر والحيوان التي تتغير من حال إلى حال

[Rita da Nova]

«De todos os livros de Saramago que já li, pareceu-me o mais direto e “limpo” de pormenores desnecessários: as descrições são as suficientes para que o leitor consiga imaginar os cenários, as personagens que não são essenciais ou históricas são reduzidas às suas funções, e há pouco contexto histórico e social para além daquele de que precisamos para situar a história. Para mim, esta economia funcionou bastante bem, uma vez que me ajudou a concentrar-me na crítica social que é o objetivo do livro. E embora não tenha chegado a fazer parte dos meus Saramagos favoritos, foi sem dúvida uma excelente leitura.»

Review completa em: https://ritadanova.blogs.sapo.pt/a-vi....

[Célia Loureiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
O que esperar de uma obra de um escritor premiado com um Nobel? Já tive algumas experiências com vencedores/indiciados para Pulitzers, Nobels, Booker Prizes, e nem sempre foram agradáveis. Abomino o surrealismo de Murakami. Derrapei no caos de Gabriel García Marquez e ganhei asco à “A Valsa Esquecida” da Anne Enright - uma vez mais, porquê “A Valsa Esquecida” e não, como dizem os franceses do Jeunet, “Yupi-tralala”? Mas o Saramago é diferente, não por ser português, não por ser um velhinho de aspecto afectuoso, mas porque o considero um génio. Um génio com uma escrita tão complicada que eu, que gosto de pensar em mim como dispondo de alguma inteligência, dificilmente acompanho. Já analisaram o surrealismo das suas reflexões? Cegueira branca. A Península Ibérica à deriva da Europa. A Morte de férias. E depois temos esta Viagem do Elefante.

Do Saramago li as entrelinhas da Jangada de Pedra, desistindo a meio e admirando o génio que arquitectou as ideias. Li pouco mais de um terço do Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira e desisti, porque tanta excelência e tanto conteúdo cansam. Fiquei a 30 páginas do final do Memorial do Convento, porque foi como correr a meia-maratona chegar ali. E decidi pegar n’A Viagem do Elefante e fazer dele a primeira obra que leio, de fio a pavio, do Nobel português.

É preciso explicar que esta minha predilecção por esta obra, entre tantas que prometem qualidade, se deve ao documentário José y Pilar. No documentário, Saramago corre o mundo a promover os seus livros, com a maravilhosa - e arguta - Pilar del Rio ao lado. E está a escrever A Viagem do Elefante. Sofre um enfarte (?) e é internado. Lamenta, receia, não ser capaz de terminar a Viagem do Elefante. Mas, como ele próprio escolheu para citação de partida, Sempre chegamos ao sítio aonde nos esperam. E o elefante Salomão ou, a dado momento, Solimão, lá vai atravessando a Europa com as suas quatro toneladas. O segundo motivo que me sintonizou para este livro foi a citação: o elefante caga, pois caga. E gravou-se-me de tal modo que a oiço sempre na voz hesitante de Saramago.

A leitura é difícil. É-me sempre difícil ler Saramago, como se o autor atirasse pedras para o caminho do leitor, a fim de aferir o quanto queremos lê-lo, quanto estamos dispostos a dar de nós para fazer essa viagem que há, regra geral, num livro qualquer. Mas eu consegui ler os Maias à segunda investida, e o Saramago, desta, não me venceria.

Como ponto alto elejo a amizade cornaca-elefante. O elefante parece compreendê-lo conforme lhe sussurra ao ouvido por muito que Saramago nos recorde, aqui e ali, que o mesmo não passa de um animal. É ternurenta esta relação assim como a de simpatias e antipatias que o elefante vai revelando. Surgem padres e diálogo religioso, como já é habitual, e surge também a história de um Portugal grandioso, ainda a colher os frutos da Expansão Marítima. Estamos regidos por D. João III, veio a inquisição e na Europa prepara-se a contra-reforma em Trento. Tudo isto é mencionado pela voz de um padre Genovês que roga um milagre ao cornaca Subhro, apelando ao muito que a Igreja Católica beneficiaria dum. Por entre interesseiros, milagres de encomenda, insensibilidades para com o elefante e o tratador, discriminação para com um indiano que acredita em deuses-elefante, um jogo hierárquico complexo e uma fogueira de vaidades, Salomão agita as estradas passo a passo, ao caminhar, gravando a ferros a sua passagem pela literatura portuguesa. Inesquecível, daqui por diante, a existência de um elefante de nome Salomão.

A frase "O elefante caga, pois caga", nunca surge no livro.
Houve partes que me pareceram por demais familiares, como se esta obra de Saramago existisse em todas as coisas.

http://castelos-de-letras.blogspot.pt...

[Mohamed Shady · Rating 3 out of 5]

أحيانًا بتكون عبقرية الفكرة تكمن فى بساطتها..
ده الحال فى رواية "مسيرة الفيل" للعظيم "ساراماغو"..
معلومة بسيطة مرّت عليه قدر يحولها لرواية إنسانية عبقرية من الدرجة الأولى ..
المعلومة هى إن ملك البرتغال أهدى ولى عهد النمسا فى عام 1561 فيل ضخم اسمه "سالومون".
أنا متخيل ساراماغو بيسمع الفكرة، بيعتدل فى الكرسى بتاعه، عينيه تتسع وعقله تضئ فيه شُعلة تفكير عميق.. يسجّل الفكرة ويبدأ يشتغل عليها.. وبعد فترة تخرج للنور فى أزهى صورها..
الرواية بتصوّر مسيرة الفيل الطويلة من البرتغال لحد النمسا فى أرض لم تطأها قدم من قبل.. بتحكى كمان قصة "فريتس" الفيّال المسئول عن "سالومون" وبتبين أد ايه العلاقة بين الإنسان والحيوان ممكن تكون راسخة وعميقة..

المسيرة الطويلة جدًا، سالومون يقطع الفراسخ والكيلومترات للوصول إلى أرض لا يعلم عنها أى شئ.. معاناة الغوص فى الثلج وسقوط المطر والجو الحار الخانق..

كالعادة، اسلوب ساراماغو مش سهل ومحتاج تركيز شديد..
ترجمة "احمد عبد اللطيف" ممتازة جدًا..

شكرًا للهيئة العامة للكتاب اللى أتاحت لينا الفرصة نقرأ كتب بالجمال ده بقروش قليلة.

[Paula Mota · Rating 3 out of 5]

#voltaraSaramago

“Descobri que sou tal qual o elefante, uma parte de mim aprende, a outra ignora o que a outra parte aprendeu, e tanto mais vai ignorando quanto mais tempo vai vivendo, Não sou capaz de te seguir nesses jogos de palavras, Não sou eu quem joga com as palavras, são elas que jogam comigo."

A história é encantadora, sobretudo pelo elefante, mas a lentidão e monotonia desta viagem de Lisboa à Áustria repercutiu-se na minha leitura. Mesmo tendo algumas passagens brilhantes, é basicamente uma “road trip” feita no século XVI a passo de paquiderme.

[Nikos Tsentemeidis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αυτό που ξεχώρισα στο βιβλίο ήταν το εξαιρετικό χιούμορ του Σαραμάγκου κατ’ αρχάς και κατά δεύτερον ο πολύ άμεσος προς τον αναγνώστη τρόπος αφήγησης. Το ταξίδι του ελέφαντα γράφτηκε 10 χρόνια μετά το Νόμπελ και λίγα χρόνια πριν το θάνατο του συγγραφέα και στο οποίο βγάζει μια ωριμότητα αλλά και μια ταπεινότητα που συναντάται σε ελάχιστους ανθρώπους αυτού του επιπέδου.

[Mahmoud Masoud · Rating 4 out of 5]

"إلى بيلار، التي لم تتركني للموت". هكذا كتب العزيز ساراماجو في بداية روايته (مسيرة الفيل)، وهكذا أيضاً أنقذتني بيلار من الملل والوحدة دون أن تعلم ..

قبل عشرة أيام، كان والداي يحاولان الاتصال بي وأنا في العمل، وبسبب ضعف الشبكة لم تكن مكالماتهما تصلني، فقط يصلني رسائل قصيرة أنهما يحاولان الوصول إليّ. كنت قلقاً بسبب كثرة المحاولات، وفي النهاية علمت أنه تم استدعائي للجيش. وذلك هو السبب وراء تلك المحاولات. وبعدها بأسبوع ذهبت للجيش، وأخذت معي رواية ساراماجو تلك، لأقرأها.

معتمداً على واقعة تاريخية حدثت عام 1551، يسرد لنا العزيز ساراماجو روايته. في ذلك العام قرر الملك جواو الثالث ملك البرتغال، إرسال هدية زفاف إلى الأرشيدوق ماكسيميليان ولي عهد النمسا، وبعد تفكير قرر أن يرسل له الفيل سولومون (سليمان)، الذي كان منسياً ومه��لاً في حديقة قصره. ووجد أنها ستكون هدية مميزة و مناسبة.

عندما زار ساراماجو النمسا، وشاهد صور الفيل سولومون، ألهمته تلك الحكاية لكتابة روايته. تتبع ساراماجو رحلة سولومون وحارسه سوبهرو. قد تظن أنها رواية عادية أو مجرد سرد لحكاية تاريخية، ولكن ساراماجو يطرح في تلك الرحلة عدة تساؤلات وأفكار، ولا تخلو من السخرية أيضاً.

كانت رحلة ممتعة أمضيتها مع سولومون..

[BookHunter M ُH َM َD · Rating 3 out of 5]

في داخلنا علينا أن نعترف أن الحكاية ليست نقية و لا مميزة. فهي تأخذ من الحياة ما يهمها كمادة مقبولة اجتماعيا و تاريخيا. و تحتقر البقية. بالتحديد ح��ث يكمن ربما التفسير الحقيقي للأحداث. و الأشياء. و الواقع العاهر. سأقولها لكم حقيقة. حقيقة أقول لكم إنه أهم من أن نكون روائيين هو أن نكون خياليين. كذابين.

الفكره مجنونة فلا توجد حكاية و الحدث الدرامي الوحيد هو مسيرة الفيل من البرتغال للنمسا عبر اسبانيا و ايطاليا مصحوبا بموكب اهم شخص فيه غير الفيل هو الفيال الذي يقوده.
ذكرتني برواية اخرى كانت تشبهها في الفكرة و ان كانت افضل منها في الحبكة هي المسيرة الطويلة كما سرحت بخيالي مرارا في فكرة ان يحكي لنا ساراماجو قصة مسيرة اخرى لفيل اخر هو فيل ابرهة.
هل يعني ذلك ان الرواية مملة؟ أبدا.
شيقة؟ ابدا.
عميقة؟ لا و النعمه.
عرفنا منها الاراضي الاوروبية او تاريخها او شيئا من شعوبها خلال المسيرة؟ ابدا.
اذا ما هي الرساله التي أراد ساراماجو ايصالها بهذه القصة؟
في الحقيقة انا لا ادري و لكني بالطبع استمتعت.

[Riku Sayuj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saramago was having some snacks at a restaurant, when he noticed some engravings of an elephant on the walls. He enquired about it and was informed about an elephant, back in the sixteenth century, who had journeyed across the continent and through the peninsula and then passed on into legend. Saramago felt there was material for a story there and set out to investigate a bit about the historical details of this long journey. The result is this book. It was supposed to be a charming little novel.

This reviewer is sorry to report that while this is an interesting example of how good authors can pluck good stories out of thin air, there was nothing here that was of real interest to him, in terms of engaging characters, historical significance or even a good yarn.

[Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

إذا فهذا هو ساراماجو , من فاض ذكره وارتفع اسمه ليناطح السحاب , إذا هو ساراماجو . من وضع إسمه فى مصاف العظماء , أعتقد أنه يستحق , ويستحق أكثر .

هذا هو أول لقاء معه والأكيد أنه لن يكون الأخير (شكلها هتكون فاتحة خير ان شاء الله بصوت حزلقوم)

عمل عادى لكنه قوى , أكيد لن يُسجل ضمن أعظم ما كتب ساراماجو فهو من نوعية الأعمال المظلومة , لكن مجرد ما تقرأها ستجد نفسك أمام عمل فريد . عمل يبرهن على إبداع منقطع النظير .

المهم : مسيرة الفيل : فى غابر الأزمان , ملك أراد أن يهادي صهره , فتفتَّقَ ذهنُه على هدية مبتكرة , وهو فيل هندى مركون عنده. رأى فيه الهدية المناسبة لجلالته وعظمته الملكية.

إذا : فالرواية مُستمدة من أثر تاريخى حدث بالفعل , عندما أهدى ملك البرتغال صهره أرشيدوق النمسا فيلاً ضخما .

ليكون الفيل (سالمون ) هو بطل العمل ومحورها و ما حوله من أشخاص هى ألوان تكميلية لتكمل اللوحة وتظهر بهذا الشكل الظريف.

لا أدرى هل هو أسلوب سارامجو م اسلوب المترجم , ولكن الحس البلاغى مميز جدا وطريقة الكتابة (فيها شئ ) شئ مميز ونادرا ما تقابله فى الأعمال الروائية.

تقمص الكاتب لشخصيات الرواية مبهر , يتحدث بلسانهم كأنهم هو .

من وجهة نظرى أفضل شخصيات الرواية كانت شخصية الفيّال (سوبهرو).

فى المجمل بداية ممتازة لى مع الكاتب وعمل مميز للغاية .

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do You Know the Way to Pan José?

I'm afraid whatever subtlety and charm this novel supposedly has was lost on me.

I normally like to read an author's work chronologically, rather than jump in at the end and work backwards or around. I broke my rule in this case, and now I'm left wondering why Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize. Is this, his last novel before he died in 2010, another case of the Nobel Curse, where you never write another decent work after you get the big one? Help me decide which of his novels to read next! Please!

This novel was relentlessly linear. There was no narrative arc that I could detect, unless you count the climb upwards through the Alps.

There were rarely two paragraphs on the same page. The longest I recorded before I stopped counting was 12 pages. Yet there was no apparent need for this longevity. Sentences were just added together with no cumulative effect, dynamism or creative tension.

Saramago was perfectly competent at establishing the feel of 1551 era Portugal, but every now and again the third person narrative anachronistically mentioned "all's well that ends well" (50 years before Shakespeare used the term, if you don't attribute it to John Heywood in 1546), film, cameras and "the third way" between capitalism and communism, without any apparent purpose or effect, other than to alienate me, the reader.

There were two or three occasions on which I grinned at some aside, but little of what I had expected from the blurb trumpeting its extremely funny and witty reflections. For all my sifting, I ended up with too little gold in my pan.

Nor was there any character development that I could tell. I loved the elephant, but even for him, it was no hero's journey (though thankfully the denouement wasn't like slaughter for elephants). He seemed to be as bored as me. No wonder, like José himself, he died two years after the narrative ended. I hope I'm spared his fate.


SOUNDTRACK:

A Tribute to José Saramago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zaHj...

Miguel Gonçalves Mendes - "José e Pilar"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkxyT...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtRx...

"I have ideas for books, but she has ideas for life. I don’t know which is more important."

Dionne Warwick - "Do You Know the Way to Pan José?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqWt4...

Lisbon is a great big freeway
Put a hundred down on a pachyderm,
Turn your back on your accounting firm
And you might find yourself on the way
To Vienna, by barge, from Innsbruck.
Hey! It's not my trip, it's in the book!

Do you know the way...(repeat)

Thanks to Steve for the inspiration!


[This review is dedicated to my school friend, Chrispy Chorizo.]

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is a book of historical fiction. It is based on a true event in history:

“In 1551, King João III of Portugal gave Archduke Maximilian an unusual wedding present: an elephant named Solomon. The elephant's journey from Lisbon to Vienna was witnessed and remarked upon by scholars, historians, and ordinary people.” , this being a direct quote from the book description.

And yet this book is primarily a book of humor. To be more explicit, it is a book of ironic satire. It is written with modern terminology. We are not to analyze the appropriateness of the terminology. These are NOT the expressions of the 1500s. They are not meant to be. Instead, we are meant to chuckle at the incongruence of our modern way of thinking and the historical events as they unfolded. It is very funny, and I praise Saramago for his ability to make me laugh. Read this book to laugh, not to learn of an historical event.

I chose to listen to this book because it does not employ the normal rules of punctuation. I do not like such writing. Paragraphs and rules of punctuation help a reader understand what is being said. Soooooo instead, I figured the narrator of this audio book could do the reading for me! I can just sit back and enjoy the content! If I had had to struggle through the reading myself, I am sure I would have given it less stars! The narrator was excellent. Her intonations were perfect. She has earned her money. It is worth paying a bit more for the audio version than struggling through the written, never ending sentences. That is what I think.

Do you want a sophisticated chuckle? Listen to this book.

[Dora Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foi a minha estreia com José Saramago.
Gostei bastante, quero ler mais sem dúvida.

[jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

shortly after he began writing the elephant’s journey in 2007, josé saramago was stricken with pneumonia and would conclude the year hospitalized in lanzarote from complications. a mere day after his discharge the following january, he resumed efforts on the novel, completing it in august 2008. hence the book’s dedication: “for pilar, who wouldn’t let me die,” a tribute to his wife (and translator of his works into spanish). saramago would go on to finish another novel (cain, to be published in english in 2011) before he passed away on the cusp of summer earlier this year at the age of 87.

the elephant’s journey is saramago’s fictionalized account relating the true tale of an elephant given to archduke maximilian as a wedding gift from his uncle, king joão III of portugal, and its triumphant voyage upon foot and ship from lisbon to vienna in 1551. how saramago became inspired to tell this particular story is as serendipitous as any of the fantastic plots he is famous for having created. following a guest lecture at the university of salzburg, saramago’s inquisitive nature, evident during a chance dinner at an austrian restaurant called “the elephant,” provided enough fodder for his imagination to begin churning. he writes, “certain unknown fates came together that night in the city of mozart in order that this writer would ask: ‘what are those carvings over there?’” those carvings illustrated the elephant’s remarkable sixteenth century journey across europe, and, thus, with the aid of some research, saramago’s fifteenth novel was born.

based in historical fact though it may be, the elephant’s journey is quintessential saramago storytelling at its finest. the book was aptly rendered from the portuguese by margaret jull costa, the eighth consecutive novel of his she has translated (in addition to her award-winning english adaptations of fernando pessoa, javier marías, and eça de queiroz). many of the elements that have made his fiction so widely beloved are present, and, as such, both neophyte and devotee will find the book deeply rewarding. while the protracted, picturesque sentences and lack of traditional punctuation that mark saramago’s singular style are of course present, notable herein is his decision to forego the capitalization of proper nouns unless they occur at the beginning of a sentence (perhaps because he chose to recast historical figures and places beyond the realm of recorded fact).

solomon the elephant (later renamed suleiman) is richly conceived, as is subhro, the elephant’s mahout. much of the charm of aaramago’s characters rests in the lifelike manner in which he portrays them, often full of wisdom and hospitality, yet just as likely to commit an act of folly or selfishness. his narration of their lives often reflects this duality, “what a strange creature man is, so prone to terrible insomnias over mere nothings and yet capable of sleeping like a log on the eve of battle.”

as with every novel, saramago often veers briefly from the narrative to muse upon the far-reaching ramifications of human nature, history, culture, government, and religion. strong in his convictions (however often mischaracterized by the international press), he seldom strays into moralizing, but instead offers seemingly simple observations and truisms of everyday life: “people say a lot of things, and not all of them are true, but that is what human beings are like, they can as easily believe that the hair of an elephant, marinated in a little oil, can cure baldness, as imagine that they carry within them the one solitary light that will lead them along life’s paths, even through mountain passes. one way or another, as the wise old hermit of the alps once said, we will all have to die.”

the elephant’s journey finds saramago at his most playful and lighthearted. though self-described as a pessimist, little trace of his contrarian tendencies is to be found. the overarching sense of adventure is what dominates the story, and however much hardship was endured (whether by sailing to italy or crossing the austrian alps), the characters remain mostly good-natured, aware as they are of both the import and novelty of their attempted feat. even the occasional aside directed at the reader remains upbeat and spirited, “it’s hard to understand just why the archduke maximilian should have decided to make such a journey at this time of year, but that is how it’s set down in history, as an incontrovertible, documented fact, supported by historians and confirmed by the novelist, who must be forgiven for taking certain liberties with names, not only because it is his right to invent, but also because he had to fill in certain gaps so that the sacred coherence of the story was not lost. it must be said that history is always selective, and discriminatory too, selecting from life only what society deems to be historical and scorning the rest, which is precisely where we might find the true explanation of facts, of things, of wretched reality itself. in truth, i say to you, it is better to be a novelist, a fiction writer, a liar. or a mahout, despite the hare-brained fantasies to which, either by birth or profession, they seem to be prone.”

after nearly a full calendar year, and some 1,800 or so miles over land and sea, the elephant and his entourage finally arrive in vienna. with their destination reached, pachyderm, procession, and reader alike are enjoined in an exultation that from the onset may have seemed somewhat unlikely. the elephant’s journey is a fantastic story of determination, and, like so many of his novels, succeeds on many a level. saramago, of all his many gifts for telling a compelling tale, ought to be remembered for his grace, his inimitable humor, and the resplendent humanity he brought to each of his works.

the portuguese government declared two days of mourning upon his death in june, and some 20,000 people attended his funeral. while a controversial figure to many, he left behind an acclaimed and accomplished body of work (including nearly two dozen works of poetry, drama, short stories, essays, journalism, diaries, a libretto, and a children’s book- all of which have yet to be translated into english). josé saramago was long an important and respected figure in international letters, and with his death the world has lost a literary great. the epigraph for the elephant’s journey could not be any more succinctly or aptly put: “in the end, we always arrive at the place where we are expected.”


the sceptics are quite right when they say that the history of humanity is one long succession of missed opportunities. fortunately, thanks to the inexhaustible generosity of the imagination, we erase faults, fill in lacunae as best we can, forge passages through blind alleys that will remain stubbornly blind, and invent keys to doors that have never even had locks.

[Cherisa B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of a page of history, Saramago gives us the story of the king of Portugal bestowing upon the archduke of Austria an Indian elephant and the mahout who cares for it. Foibles and idiosyncrasies of humans and pachyderms abound in the sweet and silly tale, peopled with royalty and church leaders, military men and farmers, grunt workers and villagers, and one Indian trying to make sense of them all.

Three and a half stars.

[Semjon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im Jahr 1551 schenkt der portugiesische König seinem österreichischen Monarchenkollegen einen Elefanten 🐘 aus seinem Besitztum mit entsprechendem Elefantenführer aus Indien. Eine wahre Geschichte. Saramago hat sie entdeckt, als er im Salzburger Hotel „Zum Elefanten“ weilte. Er ließ sich von der Geschichte anfixen, recherchierte und brachte diesen kleinen Roman heraus, seinen Vorletzten bevor er starb.

Die Messlatte liegt bei mir hoch, wenn ein Literaturnobelpreisträger einen historischen Roman schreibt. Saramago hat versucht es mit schelmischem Augenzwickern zu erzählen, einem cleveren Elefantenführer mit allerlei Weisheiten aus seiner asiatischen Heimat und weniger clevere Portugiesen, die meinen, ein Elefantentransport wäre ja kein Problem über diese weite Strecke im Winter. Immerhin hatte es Hannibal 1700 Jahre zuvor mit 40 Elefanten über die Alpen geschafft.

Mir war dies alles zu bemüht, zu gewollt amüsant und auch oft flach in den Dialogen (Inder: „Es liegt in der Händen des Elefanten, ob wir die Alpen überqueren.“ Portugiese: „Ein Elefant hat keine Hände“. Inder: „Es war ja auch nur bildhaft gemeint“ 🥱). Die ersten zwei Drittel des Romans sind sehr behäbig. Erst als der Brenner passiert ist und sich Saramago als allwissender, moderner Erzähler kommentierend in die Geschichte einmischt, konnte ich etwas von dem versprochenen Humor erkennen. Insgesamt dann doch ganz in Ordnung, aber kein großer Wurf. Wohlwollende drei Sterne.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knowing this was his last book, I felt that perhaps it wouldn't read that well. his style was there that I loved as well, it was an unfamiliar story about the first elephant sent to Vienna in the 16th century but somehow I felt something was missing. A good finale to an excellent author's career but perhaps more for the collection.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Clou dieses eher schmalen Buchs liegt darin, dass ein auktorialer Erzähler der Gegenwart von einer Elefantenreise von etwa 1550 berichtet, nicht rückblickend, sondern so, als wäre er dabei gewesen.

Das Buch lebt nicht von seiner kargen Handlung, sondern von den Kommentierungen dieses Erzählers. Neben religiösen (Ganesh und indische Götterwelt/lutheranische Revolution gegen Kotholizismus) und kulturellen Aspekten (die abgeranzten Portugiesen gegen die strahlenden Habsburger) sind es vor allem die aus der Zeit gefallenen Bemerkungen, die für Humor sorgen.

Diese Anachronismen waren oft lustig, die Einblicke in diese Epoche durchaus lesenswert, und so ist dieses Buch Saramagos eine gelungene, aber doch sehr berechenbare Fingerübung Saramagos. Ob es mehr sein will, weiß ich nicht. Mit hat es gefallen.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Others have repeated the story and given the background to Saramago writing this book which is written in long, long sentences with little punctuation and no quotation marks which means you have to really concentrate on conversations to follow who is speaking and when because it might be the elephant or the archduke or the mahout or in fact anybody else, and also because the author just witters on and on, often going completely off piste and crossing centuries in terms of terminology and observations in the spirit of Chelmsford 123 if anyone remembers it. Phew! Quite an exhausting read because of its style but very funny at times, definitely quirky, and heavens am I really using this word, sweet. My first Saramago. If I thought they were all like this, I wouldn't read any more but they can't possibly be so I'll give him another chance. All suggestions, my Goodreads friends, are welcome.

[Ivânia Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não sendo, para mim, o melhor livro que já li de Saramago gostei bastante de acompanhar este elefante Salomão ou Solimão pela Europa fora.
Prodigiosa como sempre a imaginação de Saramago ❤️

[Osama Ebrahem · Rating 2 out of 5]

اخيرا بعد رحلة بطيئة مع الرواية كبطئ الفيل سالمون.
يأخذك سراماجو في رحلة من البرتغال للنمسا عبر مسيرة الفيل سالمون المهدى إلى ارشيدوق النمسا مع راعيه سوبهرو الفطن والفرقةالبرتغالية المرافقة للمسيرة.
تمر مسيرة الفيل عبر مدن أوروبا وصولا إلى فيينا فترى أحوال أوروبا الكاثوليكية الواقعة تحت حكم وسيطرة الكنيسة وحالة التوتر في الكنيسة الكاثوليكية بعدما أعلن مارتن لوثر افكاره ومذهبه البروتستانتي الجديد الذي يلغي تحكم الكنيسة المتغطرسة فترى محاولات الباباوات لخلق نوع من المعجزات الإلهية لمنع انتشار تلك الدعوة الجديدة التي سوف تلغي حكم الكنيسة تماما.
وتسقط أيضا على العلاقة التنافعية بين الكنيسة والامبراطور
وايضا حب الاوروبيون الإيمان بالخرافات.
فكرة جميلة ان تسقط على وضع ما عن طريق حدث غير مهم بالمرة في التاريخ الأوروبي لكن سراماجو فشل في توظيف الفكرة بطريقة جميلة وتشد القارئ فالرواية ٨٠% منها عبارة عن حشو لتطويل الرواية لا أكثر.
ولولا الفكرة لما اعطيتها ولا حتى نجمة واحدة للمل اللي حصلي بسبب الرواية دي.
بالنسبة للترجمة احمد عبد اللطيف مترجم كويس جدا بس لم يكن موفق معى سراماجو فأعماله تحتاج صالح علماني لصعوبة السرد.

[Miguel Lugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

No voy a hablar de la historia ya que todos pueden saber o imagínese de que trata el libro con tan solo leer la contraportada. Y sí, literal el libro narra todo un viaje de un elefante que más bien fue un regalo.

Fue un libro muy difícil de leer para mí, duré más de lo que pensaba y aunque leyera varias páginas en un momento, sentía que no avanzaba y esto se debe a la forma en que está escrito, ya para terminar de leer este libro, no me terminaba de gustar, no sabía que era lo que realmente me quería dar a entender Saramago. Pero ya para finalizar comencé a entender y a comprender toda esta historia y fue lo que hizo que me gustara tanto este libro, ya que si el libro hubiera terminado unas páginas antes, le hubiera dado una estrella y ahora tiene cinco.

Definitivamente volvería a leer un libro de José Saramago, fue un viaje largo, pero valió la pena.

[Pavel Nedelcu · Rating 4 out of 5]

În stilul binecunoscut (și care l-a făcut celebru) al lui Saramago, cititorul este purtat în îndepărtata, rustica, rurala lume a Europei luterane a secolului șaisprezece, acolo unde va călători alături de un elefant indian și de însoțitorul său, din capitala Portugaliei până la Viena. Elefantul este extravagantul dar de nuntă oferit de regele portughez Joao vărului său Maximilian, arhiduce austriac. După ce a fost adus în țară de marinarii portughezi (ale căror rute, știm cu toții, se deschid spre destinații exotice încă de la sfârșitul secolului al cincisprezecelea), animalul a reprezentat pentru scurtă vreme principala atracție a capitalei. Acum însă zace într-un staul murdar, uitat de toți, fără nicio altă folosință decât aceea de a rumega cantități enorme de verdeață.

[Juan Marcelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué libro tan hermoso y humano. Una travesía inolvidable llena de maravillosas historias que nos llevan más allá de la imaginación, hay varias enseñanzas y anécdotas, escenas angustiantes también divertidas y todo esto escrito de brillante manera.

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classificação e review em breve... Ainda a refletir sobre da leitura.


Viagem por Saramago (por ordem de preferência):
#1 - Memorial do Convento
#2 - Ensaio sobre a Cegueira
#3 - A Viagem do Elefante