The Elephant's Journey
A Novel
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“The Portuguese Nobel Prize winner’s delightful posthumous novel recounts the [16th century] travels of an Indian elephant…from Lisbon to Vienna” (The New Yorker).
In 1551, King João III of Portugal gave Archduke Maximilian an unusual wedding present: an elephant named Solomon. In The Elephant’s Journey, José Saramago imagines Solomon’s epic journey by foot across Europe with his Hindu keeper Subhro along for the adventure.
Accompanied by the Archduke, his new wife, and the royal guard, these unlikely heroes traverse a continent riven by the Reformation and civil wars. They are witnessed by scholars, historians, and wide-eyed ordinary people as they make their way through the storied cities of northern Italy, brave the Alps, cross the Mediterranean Sea, and at last, make their way toward their grand entry into the imperial city.
“A tale rich in irony and empathy, regularly interrupted by witty reflections on human nature and arch commentary on the powerful who insult human dignity.”—Los Angeles Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This charming tale of an elephant given by the 16th-century Portuguese king Jo o III to the Archduke of Austria has much to recommend it, despite its being a minor work from the late Nobel laureate. Setting off with the elephant from Lisbon, the elephant's Indian keeper becomes unlikely friends with an army commander on the sun-scorched road to Valladolid, where the archduke awaits. The group encounters an Iberian peninsula in the intermediate stages of state formation and in the clutches of the Inquisition, as well as villages full of people delighted and frightened by the legendary beast. Saramago skillfully evokes the era with period detail and the clashing cultures of the Iberians and the Ottomans, yet his attempts to imbue this pleasant yarn with heft fall short. In particular, his deliberate use of anachronisms and his frequent lapses into a coy, first-person-plural feel out of place, while his forays into the Hindu religion and folktales read largely ornamental. By Saramago (Blindness) standards, this is a fun if unlikely jaunt.
