On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration--flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home--families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots.Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small "d, " became human and were to fall in love?
若泽·萨拉马戈（José Saramago，1922.11.16—2010.6.18）
萨拉马戈出身贫寒，自学成才，曾为修车工、文学编辑、记者、翻译。
1982年，《修道院纪事》的出版开创了他之后一路辉煌的文学事业，彼时他六十岁。
1991年，他因争议，愤然离开生活了大半生的里斯本，和妻子一起搬到了西班牙，终生自我流放。
1995年，《失明症漫记》出版，他荣获葡萄牙与文学最高奖项——卡蒙斯文学奖。
1998年，萨拉马戈荣获诺贝尔文学奖，成为葡萄牙语世界获此殊荣的第一人。瑞典文学院授奖词：萨拉马戈用想象力、同情心和反讽所维系的寓言，持续不断地触动我们。
《死亡间歇》初版于2005年，彼时年过八十的他依旧不遗余力地质疑所谓的真理，想象人何以为人。小说源自他的一次灵光乍现：如果死亡去度个假会怎样？借死亡无来由的罢工、复工，他将人类的暴力和道德秩序再次赤裸裸...