The monastery memorial installation

Author's name: José Saramago Publisher: Al-Jamal Publications for Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2021 Literary classification: Novel Brief about the book: "The novel 'The Monumental Monastery' is based on a deconstruction of history calling for reinterpretation and reflection on society, and calling for engaging the reader in searching for another meaning of history, less obedient to elitist interpretations, and more open to popular concepts. The novel boasts a group of wonderful characters that differ in a unique way from the social nature, which makes it enchant the reader's mind and creates an existential optimism, and a desire to face life rarely found in Portuguese novels. In addition to leaving a light implicit message whose echo remains unconsciously echoed in the reader's mind." It is worth mentioning that José Saramago wrote this novel in the eighties of the last century, and it comes in the context of his novels that criticize the Catholic Church, which ended up considering his novel "The Gospel as Told by Christ" (1991) as hostile to religion and the Catholic community. As for the translator Abdel Jalil Al-Arabi, he previously translated 4 novels: "Metan for One Man" by George Amado, "Let's Buy a Poet" by Alfonso Crouch, "The Seller of the Past" by Eduardo Aguas Lopes, and "Marathon of Immortality" by André Oliveira.