Cain

Cain is the last novel by the Portuguese writer José Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, published in 2009. It is the second book in which the author approaches the biblical texts from an anti-theist standpoint and with a contemporary outlook, following The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991). Saramago, born in Portugal into a setting deeply shaped by Catholicism, argued that the Bible is part of his cultural heritage and that he therefore had the right to write about it, something he said he did not feel about the Quran.

The novel follows the wandering life of Cain after God condemns him to roam the Earth for killing his brother Abel. On his journey he discovers that, together with his donkey, he can travel through time, which allows him to witness episodes from the Hebrew Bible: Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, Noah building the ark, the misfortunes of Job, the Tower of Babel, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the golden calf and the wars of the Israelites. In each of these scenes Cain challenges God over His cruelty, vanity, vengefulness and tyranny. The story also lets Saramago engage with tradition: Cain, who has almost no story in the Bible, becomes the narrator and the critical conscience of the work. He appears as a figure who, unlike God, takes responsibility for his actions and reflects on injustice.

The book also includes an episode invented by the author, drawing on the figure of Lilith, in which Cain becomes the lover of the queen of a city-state. Saramago uses this passage to present sexual desire as something inherent to both men and women, and to dismantle the notion that a woman who expresses it is therefore a prostitute.

The novel stirred controversy even before its publication; according to the author, the Church was already attacking it in the media. Saramago, who described himself as an atheist yet steeped in Christian values from his upbringing, defended his right to interpret a legacy that had shaped his own identity. In his version, Cain is less a villain than a human figure, while God, by contrast, appears as an arbitrary and cruel character.