Saramago did not achieve widespread recognition and acclaim until he was sixty, with the publication of his fourth novel, Memorial do Convento (1982).

Saramago published his first novel, Land of Sin , in 1947. It remained his only published literary work until a poetry book, Possible Poems , was published in 1966. It was followed by another book of poems, Probably Joy , in 1970, three collections of newspaper articles in 1971, 1973 and 1974 respectively, and the long poem The Year of 1993 in... See more

After graduating as a lathe operator, he worked as a car mechanic for two years. At this time Saramago had acquired a taste for reading and started to frequent a public library in Lisbon in his free time.

In 2003

Harold Bloom

described Saramago as "the most gifted novelist alive in the world today"

[2]

and in 2010 said he considers Saramago to be "a permanent part of the

Western canon

",

[3]

while

James Wood

praises "the distinctive tone to his fiction because he narrates his novels as if he were someone both wise and ignorant."

[4]