I feel conflicted about this novel. One one had I thought it was interesting, creative and unlike anything I’ve read before. The idea of an almost ‘double’ or bi-directional reincarnation is super cool and confusing. But on the other hand, this book left me confused and a bit unsatisfied. I wanted more information and answers to my questions. And at times I felt like the pacing was a bit weird and choppy with all the cuts to and from the dreams (I get that’s the point, but it confused me a lot). But I did find it fun and almost game-like to figure out if the gecko form was the ‘second’ life or the first.
The main thing I want to talk about in my blog post is the concept of translation. Something that was brought up a lot in the lecture video was the difference in titles: the Portuguese title ‘The Seller of Pasts’ vs the English title ‘ The Book of Chameleons”. I brought up the complications with translated literature in my first blog post: that English is often thought of as a colonial language, and the idea of reading translated novels (often from countries that have suffered at the hands of colonialism) in English can take away certain important understandings and aspects of the text. The author’s intention and message of the novel might be lost with a translation, as many words or expressions simply do not translate into English.
In this case, as well as the case of many other novels we’ve read in the class, the title is completely different in the original compared to the translation. One thing that really stuck out to me with the lecture video is the idea that a translated novel is a ‘rebirth’ or ‘reincarnation’ of the previous work. Which is something I’ve never really thought about. That the translation of a novel is not simply JUST a translation but a completely different novel. Looking at a translated novel as a different novel allows you to read it through your own lens, rather than attempting to look at it through the lens of the author – which is both good and bad in my opinion. The author’s lens can give important socioeconomic and cultural context to the story, but it’s also important to be able to fully immerse yourself as a reader.
My question for discussion would be: does the title of a novel influence your understanding of a book? Would you have read this novel differently if it was called ‘The Seller of Pasts” compared to “The Book of Chameleons”?
“English is often thought of as a colonial language”
And indeed it is. But then Portuguese is *also* a colonial language, at least in Southern Africa. Hence also the links that Saramago likes to draw between Africa, Portugal, and Brazil (which was also colonized by Portugal, and is arguably the second most populous “African” country in the world, because of the number of its inhabitants who are of African descent, as a result of the slave trade).
Hello, love your blog post title this week! Im actually completely with you on your opinion of this book- theres a lot of interesting concepts woven in, but the writing style does seem very choppy and at times hard to follow (which I felt like the gecko had a really bad memory because it has a smaller brain lol). You bring up a really interesting point too- seeing translation as also a reincarnation, or a “possession” of the original text, just like the gecko. As for your question, I think having chameleon in the title really emphasized and circles to the ideas of deception, reinvention, lies and truths, so I feel like the really hit the nail on the head with this one. The sellers of the past in contrast feels a bit more lacklustre.