“It comes with the territory”: José Saramago’s unfinished novel

Abstract

José Saramago's unfinished novel, published in 2014, once again brings the universe of work into the narrative scene of his titles. The link to working appears numerous times, occupying a particular centrality of the plot in the author's titles, as is the case of The History of the Siege of Lisbon, Raised from the Ground, and The Cave, each with its specific problematization. Although the plot is not in its entirety, it is possible to trace some paths in the problematization of the relationship between the subject and the capitalist society in which he is included, from textual indices and aesthetic constructions. It is important for us to understand how Saramago sews into the narrative plot the ethical dilemma facing the caesura of the world from the protagonist arthur, a standard bureaucrat, an employee of a war industry. arthur contrasts with his ex-wife, felícia, who warns at all times to a civic responsibility. In this research we are interested in the conception of ethics contained in the founding discourse of capitalism, discussed in Weberian studies (1999, 2003, 2004, 2013) perceiving the reverberations of such discourse found in the justification of the protagonist character for the unquestionable dedication to his craft (ARENDT, 1999.)