José de Sousa Saramago was Portugal’s premiere writer and the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. His 1986 "Stone Raft" is a tale of the Iberian Peninsula breaking off from Europe and floating out to sea.

“Overcome evil with good, the ancients used to say, and with good reason, at least they put their time to good use by judging facts that were then new in the light of facts that were already old. Nowadays we make the mistake of adopting a skeptical attitude toward the lessons of antiquity. The President of the United States of America promised that the peninsula would be welcome, and Canada, as we will see, was not pleased. As the Canadians point out, Unless the peninsula changes course, it we who will be playing host and then we'll have two Newfounlands here instead of one, little do the people on the peninsula know, poor devils, what awaits them, biting cold, frost, the only advantage for the Portuguese is that they will be close to supplies of that cod they're so fond of. They will lose their summers but have more to eat.”