Inevitably, Saramago has a twist and then another twist. Both men are understandably somewhat perturbed by this and, at this point, it is where Saramago starts making it uncomfortable for us (and for the main characters). The man turns out to be identical in all respects – same scars, same moles, even same date of birth. One does not reply and two deny that they know him.Įventually he does locate the real Daniel Santa-Clara – it is a pseudonym – by using a devious means and tracks down the real man. There are three Santa-Claras in the Lisbon phone book. The name – Daniel Santa-Clara – is not common, so he tries to find him. He starts by a process of elimination but then there is a film where the character has a larger role and is given a credit. Eventually, he finds out the name of his double. The video store clerk is glad to help and he soon has six such films, with a list of many more. As a result he returns to the video store and cleverly decides to rent films from the same production company. Unfortunately, as he is a minor character, the credits only mention a list of actors in the supporting roles without mentioning what specific roles they played. On looking again he sees that one of the very minor roles has an actor who resembles himself, apart from a moustache. However, when he has finished there is something he recalls which he wishes to check further. Tertuliano rents it from the local video store and, while quite enjoying it, agrees that it is not a great film and wonders why the maths teacher has recommended it.
The maths teacher points out that it is not a particularly good film but he feels Tertuliano, who is not a cinema buff, will enjoy it. One day, at school, one of his colleagues, with whom he is fairly friendly, the maths teacher, recommends a specific film, The Race Is to the Swift, to him.
He will spend much of the novel reading a history of Mesopotamian civilisation. Apart from spending some time (but not very much) with Maria da Paz, his main interest seems to be reading books of history. His feelings towards her change frequently during the course of the story. He has a girlfriend, Maria da Paz, who works in a bank and lives with her mother. He is divorced with no children and lives alone in a flat in what is presumably Lisbon. Tertuliano Máximo Afonso (he hates the name Tertuliano and, indeed comes in for a certain mocking about it during the course of the novel) is a history teacher. What looks like simply a case of two people looking alike soon becomes quite sinister. Saramago’s way is to make the reader feel uncomfortable and he certainly does that here. Home » Portugal » José Saramago » O homem duplicado (The Double) José Saramago: O homem duplicado (The Double)
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