''The Stone Raft'' ( pt, A Jangada de Pedra) is a novel by

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

writer

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which heco ...

. It was written in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, and was translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Giovanni Pontiero Giovanni Pontiero (10 February 1932 – 10 February 1996) was a Scots-Italian scholar and translator of Portuguese fiction. Most notably, he translated the works of José Saramago and Clarice Lispector, two celebrated names in Portuguese-language ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. The premise of the novel is that the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

has broken off the European continent and is floating freely in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

; bureaucrats around the world are forced to deal with the traumatic effects, while five characters from across

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

are drawn ever closer to one another, embarking on a journey within the peninsula as the landmass journeys itself. A Spanish-language film version entitled ''La Balsa de Piedra'' was released in 2002. A Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese co-production, it was directed by Dutch director

George Sluizer George Sluizer (25 June 1932 – 20 September 2014) was a French-born Dutch filmmaker whose credits included features as well as documentary films. Career Born in Paris, France, to a Dutch-Jewish father and a Norwegian mother, he was best known ...

. In 2021 it came to light that many lyrics of singer-songwriter

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

bear a strong resemblance to various lines from the novel, leading fans to believe that the book may have served as a device of lyrical inspiration throughout his songwriting career, in particular in the 1996 song 'Underneath The Sky'.

References

1986 novels 20th-century Portuguese novels Novels by José Saramago Novels set in Portugal Novels set in Spain Portuguese novels adapted into films {{1980s-novel-stub