What’s real?

Abstract

In the present text I take a closer look at the novel A jangada de pedra by José Saramago, published in 1986, in order to open a discussion on the concept of “the real”. Relying on a select bibliography, mainly dominated by the thought of Giorgio Agamben, I intend to open critical lines that consider indeterminacy, probability and chance as subsidies for the interpretation of his fictional architecture. Decanting allegory as the only variable of analysis (for having become stale after thirty years of incessant repetition) and radicalized the experience of COVID since 2020, the article aims to offer a new reading perspective by placing the text at the center of the existential crossroads awakened by the pandemic.