Caín (review)

José Saramago (1922-2010) was a Portuguese novelist, playwright, journalist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998. Most of Saramago's novels depict allegories of human nature, often dealing with fantastic alternative worlds. Saramago explores throughout his work the fragility of human condition, the issue of identity and the meaning of life.

In his latest novel, Caín, Saramago rewrites the biblical story of Cain and Abel. As with the publication of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991), Saramago's Caín has aroused considerable controversy in Portugal since its publication in November, 2009. Members of Portugal's Catholic Church and community found Saramago's representation of God and the biblical characters offensive and sacrilegious.

The novel is divided into twelve chapters. Caín's heterodiegetic narrator holds a burlesque and ironic tone. In chapter nine, this posture is patent; Cain prevents the sacrifice of Isaac, as commanded by God to prove Abraham's faith. The narrator satirizes both the action of Abraham and God's irrational and brutal request: "El lector ha leído bien, el señor ordenó a abraham (sic) que le sacrificase a su propio hijo . . . como quien pide un vaso de agua. . . . Lo lógico, lo natural, simplemente humano hubiera sido que abraham (sic) mandase al señor a la mierda, pero no fue así" (88).

Saramago's distinctive and experimental style is present in Caín with its extremely long sentences and scarce punctuation marks. Many of his paragraphs also run several pages without pause. Proper nouns are generally not capitalized, minimizing in this case the importance culture has bestowed upon these nouns.

Chapters 1 and 2 retell the story of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, whose jocose description as "desnuditos, en pelota viva" (15) removes the solemnity from the original biblical version. After the eviction, Adam and Eve hide in a cave guarded by Azael. The archangel disobeys God, saving the couple from starvation, and helping them flee God's cruel mandate.

Chapters 3 and 4 describe the story of the brothers Cain and Abel. Saramago's representation of Cain opposes Cain's traditional view as a despicable fratricide. After Abel's murder by Cain's hands, the latter blames God by saying: "Cómo tú fuiste libre para dejar que matara a abel (sic) cuando estaba en tus manos evitarlo" (39). After this episode, Cain begins a journey to discover his place in the biblical history/story. Saramago's Cain resembles Hermann Hesse's representation of the same character. In Damian (1919), Cain is depicted as brave and powerful; and his visible forehead mark, as a badge of courage instead of as a mark of damnation. As portrayed in Damian, Saramago's Cain is depicted as a peon in God's humanity and perverse chess game.

Chapter 5 describes Cain's sexual encounter with Lilith, the queen of "nod". According to the apocryphal book of Genesis, Lilith was the first woman created by God. However, Lilith rejects the submissive position that God assigns her. The myth recounts that Lilith was turned into the snake that later successfully tempts Eve. Lilith in Saramago's Cain, is represented as a powerful, independent and sexually voracious woman: Eve's antithesis.

Chapters 6 through 9 rewrite three biblical episodes with Cain as a protagonist and judge of the events. In chapter 10, the oscillation of time and space takes Cain back to his beloved Lilith. Cain meets Enoch, their son, and stays briefly at the palace only to continue his existential journey in search of answers: "Sí, creo que así será, si nací para vivir algo diferente, tengo que saber qué y para qué" (144).

In the last two chapters, Cain believes that he has gained the knowledge he was seeking. Cain is the only one saved in Noah's ark. He confronts God again, who acknowledges his liaison with Satan and affirms that he gives Satan an opportunity every time something bad happens, "para que se entretenga" (168). Cain...