Research Article The Suspension of Death in Death with Interruptions: A Critical Study of Modern Civilization and Institutional Decay

The Suspension of Death in Death with Interruptions

Abstract

This article offers a critical reading of José Saramago’s novel Death with Interruptions (As Intermitências da Morte) by examining the suspension of death as a symbolic device to expose the moral, institutional, and civilizational crises of the modern world. The novel imagines a society in which death suddenly ceases to function, triggering widespread disruption across religious, political, economic, and social institutions. Through satire and allegory, Saramago reveals how modern civilization is sustained by systems that depend upon death for authority, legitimacy, and economic continuity. The study argues that the absence of death unmasks the hypocrisy, inefficiency, and moral emptiness of institutions such as the state, the church, insurance corporations, healthcare systems, and organized crime. Rather than celebrating immortality as a triumph, the novel portrays it as a condition that accelerates institutional decay and ethical collapse. Ultimately, the suspension of death functions as a critique of modern civilization’s commodification of life, suffering, and mortality.