Como enxergar a cegueira: écfrase em Ensaio sobre a cegueira

Abstract

This work consists in relating the ekphrasis and the book Blindness. The present work proposes to investigate the relations of ekphrasis in the novel Blindness by the Portuguese writer José Saramago, as well as to explain and interpret the novel's descriptive relations, in which the literary resources used by the narrator are highlighted. In this study, some ideas of intermediality which permeate the narrative skills and contribute to the construction of the ekphrasis in a singular narrative are fundamental. Some works by Dr. Teresa Cristina Cerdeira on José Saramago were used as theoretical support, as well as the doctoral thesis written by Dr. Miriam Vieira on the dimensions of the ekphrasis. Furthermore, excerpts of W. J. T. Mitchell’s work Word and Image, which was translated by Dr. Augusto Cipriani, were used as theoretical support. The methodology used was the active investigation of theoretical texts for the comprehension of concepts of ekphrasis, intermediality and the relationship between word and image, and then the establishment of the relationship between these concepts and the literary text. From this, it was understood that the concepts of ekphrasis and intermediality, as well as the relationship between word and image — in the narrative scope — are actively present in Blindness, which provide the work rich media transpositions. Therefore, it was possible to demonstrate these relationships and transpositions present in the novel, bringing the narrative closer to the theoretical texts, and thus expanding the possibilities of readings of Blindness.