SOURCE: "José Saramago and O ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis: The Making of a Masterpiece," in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Vol. LXXI, No. 1, January, 1994, pp. 139-48.

[In the following essay, Pontiero examines the major themes in O ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis.]

As the title suggests, this fourth novel by José Saramago is dominated by the presence of Ricardo Reis, one of the heteronyms of the poet Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), Portugal's most famous poet since Camoens. Pessoa insisted that his three main heteronyms (Álvaro de Campos, Alberto Caeiro and Ricardo Reis) were not mere pseudonyms but evidence of the multiple personalities we all possess and contrasting facets of our innumerable selves. Saramago ingeniously probes the relationship between Pessoa and Reis further, by allowing the heteronym to outlive his creator by nine months, while summoning Pessoa from his tomb to renew friendship with Reis, who has just returned...