The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

José Saramago · 1922–2010 · Portugal

Originally O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (Portuguese) · translated by Giovanni Pontiero

Why it matters

Saramago retells the life of Christ as a man shaped by guilt, doubt, and a God complicit in every death demanded for glory. The book was heterodox enough that Portugal's government blocked it from a European prize, prompting Saramago's self-exile to Lanzarote.

At a glance

Saramago's flooding, unpunctuated sentences again, now applied to sustained theological argument.