José Saramago is the only Portuguese writer to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works, including 'Blindness' and 'The Gospel According to Jesus Christ,' have been translated into over 30 languages, selling more than 3.5 million copies and having numerous readers worldwide. Notably, the publication of 'Blindness' in 1995 brought him considerable prestige, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998, with the awarding committee stating: “A fable maintained by imagination, compassion, and irony, which constantly allows us to grasp the elusive reality.”
In China, 'Blindness' also has a wide influence. In the novel, Saramago vividly presents issues concerning the good and evil of human nature, the state of human existence, and the crises and challenges faced by humanity and the bottom line of civilization. In 2007, this work was adapted to the stage by director Wang Xiaoying from the National Theatre. During the event, writer Yan Lianke also expressed his fondness for Saramago, saying, “I read this work 15 years ago, and at that time I didn’t even know the name of the translator, but I can still recall the content of the story and the details; Saramago's reflections in the work have subtly influenced me.”
According to the publisher New Classics Culture, with the publication of the new edition of 'Blindness,' its sister piece 'The Tale of Blindness' will also be released simultaneously, marking the first introduction of the Chinese version of this book. 'The Tale of Blindness' tells of a new disaster in the city that experienced the blindness epidemic four years later, with a lighter linguistic style.
