Nobel-winning Portuguese novelist, Jose Saramago, peacefully passed away at age 87 on Friday. He died of multiple organ failure and other illnesses which include Leukemia and some respiratory problems, a Spanish newspaper reported.

His life as an author was decorated with controversy and recognition as his novels of fantastic imagination and moving style was often fearless and rich.

It was only in 1982 that his literary career started to flourish. This came with the successful publishing of his novel Baltasar and Blimunda. 16 years later in 1998, he finally received the Nobel Prize for Literature, honoring him for his famous and powerful works.

His controversial writings include The Gospel According to Jesus Christ which caused him a dispute with his local government that led to him fleeing his home country. The novel talked about how God used Christ for world domination and also depicted his alleged romance with Mary Magdalene.

The novel he is best known for is Blindness (1995), an imaginative depiction of a plague of white blindness that caused chaos and political struggle, at first within a group of inflicted people, and eventually the whole country as the disease totally spread.

The Lanzarote authorities has declared a three-day mourning for this loss of great literary talent. Described as a simple man, Saramago had lived with his wife in the said Spanish Island since fleeing his home country, Portugal in 1990. He last published a novel last year, entitled Cain.

Source: AFP