Blindness could serve as standalone testimony to why José Saramago was awarded the 1998 Nobel prize for literature. In the novel Saramago explores a public health nightmare as a society is faced with an epidemic of contagious blindness. A man goes blind at the traffic lights while sitting in his car; he is helped by a stranger who promptly goes blind himself.
Central to the book is an ophthalmologist who goes blind before he can finish reading the textbooks and stand a chance of solving this affliction. He remains a beacon of hope and solace throughout the book for his blind companions, a voice of reason in …
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