若澤•薩拉馬戈（José Saramago，1922.11.16 – 2010.06.18）

葡萄牙作傢。1922年齣生，高中時因傢境貧睏輟學，25歲時發錶第1部小說，從汽修工變成文學雜誌記者，之後30年，一直勤懇上班，直到55歲重新開始寫小說。1982年齣版的《修道院紀事》為他贏得國際聲譽。代錶作有《裏斯本之圍》《失明癥漫記》《復明癥漫記》等。1998年獲諾貝爾文學奬，是葡萄牙語世界第一位獲此殊榮的作傢。2010年在西班牙蘭薩羅特島去世，葡萄牙為其舉行國葬。

When King and Church exercise absolute power what happens to the dreams of ordinary people? In early eighteenth century Lisbon, Baltasar, a soldier who has lost a hand in battle, falls in love with Blimunda, a young girl with visionary powers. From the day that he follows her home from the auto-da-fe where her mother is condemned and burned at the stake, the two are bound body and soul by a love of unassailable strength. A third party shares their supper that evening: Pardere Bartolemeu Lourenco, whose fantasy is to invent a flying machine. As the inquisition rages and royalty and religion clash, they pursue his impossible, not to mention heretical, dream of flight.