Palavra não puxa palavra: história e ficção em José Saramago

Abstract

This text appreciates the book História do cerco de Lisboa (1989) by José Saramago addressing the theoretical question of the primary sources of the historiographical account, as it was fictionalized in the plot of this novel. Raimundo Silva, the reviewer, lives in the plot the dilemma of the historian faced with a factual fact whose report he considers false. The relationship between fiction and history appears in the prologues of the Portuguese humanist chronicles that the narrator claims to be the primary sources of the character: in this article it is confirmed that they are also sources on national history for the empirical author of the book. There is talk about the idea of “historical scholarship” and the limits between the two prosaic genres: chronicles and contemporary historiograph. We also consider a possible dialogue with Claraboia (2011), published after Saramago's death.