José Saramago's novel 'Seeing'

In the 308th installment of "A World Like a Novel," author Kim Gyu-na recently introduced a novel that perfectly reflects the current political climate. 

Kim Gyu-na describes José Saramago's 'Seeing' as "a cruel allegory that reveals how power violates the rules of democracy." 

This novel is set four years after the white blindness epidemic, which was the focus of its predecessor, 'Blindness.' In this story, an inexplicable and incomprehensible event occurs during an election.

“A strange election result is announced by the government. Despite there being no abstentions or invalid votes, a staggering 83% of voters cast blank ballots. Caught off guard, the government immediately calls for a re-election, but the number of blank ballots only increases. 

Faced with the terrifying silence of the sovereign people, the regime loses its reason and defines the act as a massive terrorist plot aimed at overthrowing the state. The government seals off the city, declares martial law, and pressures its citizens through various political schemes and false propaganda.

The state has turned its citizens into enemies simply because they did not provide the result the regime desired. However, even in the face of such threats, the citizens maintain a remarkable order and refrain from chaos. Enraged, the government ultimately targets an innocent person, frames them as the mastermind behind the situation, sacrifices them, and takes control of the city by force.”

After introducing the plot of the novel, Kim Gyu-na diagnoses that “the reality of the June 3rd local elections in the Republic of Korea in 2026 is far uglier and more barbaric than the imagination within the novel.” 

“While the regime in the novel was terrified by the people's frightening silence of blank ballots, the corrupt power in this country committed what is known as ‘vote stealing,’ brazenly stealing and manipulating the sacred votes of the people. This is an explicit ‘rigged election.’ It is the worst act of state terrorism in constitutional history, robbing the people of their sovereignty.

What is even more appalling is the state’s attitude toward the people who have risen up after having their sovereignty stolen. Instead of reflecting on their actions, the regime is wielding the sharp blade of state power against citizens who have been protesting for 12 days over the shortage of ballots.

The head of the regime acted as if waiting for the moment to order the police to respond ‘strictly according to law and principle,’ and the police issued explicit threats, mentioning ‘special coercion charges’ that carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years, warning that those who join the protests will face ‘ruin.’”

Kim Gyu-na points out that “it is a situation where the thieves are threatening the victims whose votes were stolen,” adding that “the cold-blooded order of the dictator in the novel to ‘shoot them in the legs if they do not retreat’ is being reenacted exactly on the squares of the Republic of Korea in 2026.”

At the same time, she tells readers that they do not necessarily need to read the book, noting that “José Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, was a hard-core leftist writer. Much like his previous work, 'Blindness,' 'Seeing' also tells the story of government tyranny and citizens standing up against it. The premise is that a ‘far-right’ government violently suppresses ‘democratic’ citizens—it is a novel trapped in a typical leftist frame.”

Nevertheless, there is a reason Kim Gyu-na calls upon this book. It is because “the reality of those in the Republic of Korea who wear the mask of ‘democracy’ to steal votes in broad daylight and threaten those who protest with ‘ruin’ is far more barbaric than the fictional dictatorship imagined by a leftist writer.”

Furthermore, Kim Gyu-na emphasizes that freedom is not given for free and that rights do not belong to those who stand by as bystanders. She asks whether we will submit to the false conclusions presented by corrupt power and the threats of state force, or whether we will correct the collapsed causality with our own hands and reclaim our stolen freedom.

Kim Gyu-na cries out, “Faced with the massive anger of the public who have opened their eyes to the truth, a dictatorship that attempts to survive by stealing votes and using water cannons and the fear of ruin can never succeed. We must now begin a holy fight to reclaim the future of the Republic of Korea and the foundations of liberal democracy that have been stolen from us.”

Awaken, individual!

Rise up, free Republic of Korea!

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◆ Author Kim Gyu-na

She made her debut after winning the Busan Ilbo New Writer's Contest for her short story 'My Man's Dream' in 2006, and the Chosun Ilbo New Writer's Contest for her short story 'Sword' in 2007. She has published novels such as 'Trust Me' and 'Cherry Lemon Cocktail,' and recently released 'Reading the World Through Novels.'