All the Names

infobox Book |
name = All the Names
title_orig = Todos os nomes
translator = Margaret Jull Costa


image_caption = 1st English edition cover
author = José Saramago
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Portugal
language = Portuguese
series =
genre =
publisher =
release_date = 1997
english_release_date = 1999
media_type =
pages =
isbn = 1-86046-642-7
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"All the Names" ( _pt. Todos os nomes) is a novel by Portuguese author José Saramago. It was written in 1997 and published in English in 1999 in an award winning translation by Margaret Jull Costa.

Plot summary

The main setting of the novel is the Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths of an unnamed city. This municipal archive holds the vital records for all residents of the city stretching back several centuries. The main character is called simply Senhor José (Mr. Joseph). Senhor José is fifty years old and has worked as a low-level clerk in the registry for more than twenty years. His residence adjoins the registry. Senhor José's hobby is creating dossiers about famous people. One day he realizes that having their birth certificates would complete the files. He begins sneaking into the registry late at night to obtain them. One evening he stumbles across the records of an ordinary, unknown woman. He becomes intrigued and embarks on a search for the woman. Along the way, he commits various illegal and unprofessional acts.

Themes

One of the main themes in All the Names, shown through Senhor José's journey in piecing together the life of the unknown woman and the effects she had on other people/things, as well as the registry's conclusion that the living and dead's files should be put together as one, is that in order to be properly looked at, the human condition must include the lives of the living and the dead, the remembered and the forgotten, and the known and unknown. Indeed, this is a recurring theme in Saramago's works.

Another theme is the absurdity of human action. As Saramago puts it:

"Strictly speaking, we do not make decisions, decisions make us. The proof can be found in the fact that, though life leads us to carry out the most diverse actions one after the other, we do not preclude each one with a period of reflection, evaluation and calculation, and only then declare ourselves able to decide if we will go out to lunch or buy a newspaper or look for the unknown woman. [1] "

References

[1] cite book | title=All the Names | last=Saramago | first=José | authorlink=José Saramago | publisher=Harcourt | location= | date=2 September 1999 | edition=1st Eng. ed. | id=ISBN 1-86046-642-7