Soon the two are in a competition that involves sex and power. The actor, a rather sleazy fellow, resents Afonso's presence, as if his identical appearance were a sort of ontological theft. Finally tracking the man down, he suggests a meeting. Soon Afonso is feverishly renting videos, trying to find the actor's name, while hiding his project from his suspicious colleague, his lover and his mother. The video itself is a forgettable comedy, but the actor who plays the minor role of hotel clerk (so minor he isn't listed in the credits) is Afonso's physical double. On the suggestion of a colleague, one night Máximo watches a video that changes everything. Middle-aged, divorced and in a relationship with a woman, Maria da Paz, he is bored with life. Tertuliano Máximo Afonso is a history teacher in an unnamed metropolis (presumably Lisbon). The double motif, which has fascinated authors as diverse as Poe, Dostoyevski and Nabokov, is revived in this surprisingly listless novel by Portuguese master Saramago.
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