Blindness (novel)

Blindness
1st edition Cover (Portuguese)
AuthorJosé Saramago
Original titleEnsaio sobre a cegueira
TranslatorGiovanni Pontiero
LanguagePortuguese
GenrePost-apocalyptic
PublisherCaminho
Publication date
1995
Publication placePortugal
Published in English
October 1997
Media typePrint (Hardcover, paperback)
Pages288
ISBN1-86046-297-9
OCLC38225068
869.3/42 21
LC ClassPQ9281.A66 E6813 1997
Followed bySeeing 

Blindness (Portuguese: Ensaio sobre a cegueira, lit. Essay on Blindness) is a 1995 novel by Portuguese author José Saramago. It centers on an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an nonspecific city, and follows multiple unnamed characters as they navigate the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel was translated into English by Giovanni Pontiero in 1997.

In 1998, Saramago received the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Blindness was one of his works noted by the committee when announcing the award.

A sequel titled Seeing was published in 2004. Blindness was adapted into a film of the same name in 2008.