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Adabella Frierdich

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Aug 3, 2024, 11:05:01 PM8/3/24

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Seeing by Jose Saramago: A Dystopian Novel of Political Satire

Seeing is a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author Jose Saramago, published in 2004. It is a sequel to his earlier novel Blindness, which depicts a mass epidemic of blindness that affects an unnamed city. In Seeing, the same city is the setting for a different kind of crisis: a mysterious phenomenon of blank ballots in an election.

The novel begins on a rainy election day, when most of the citizens decide not to vote. When the rain stops, they rush to the polling stations, but when the ballots are counted, more than 70 percent of them are blank. The government suspects a conspiracy and declares a state of emergency, isolating the city from the rest of the country. The citizens, however, remain calm and indifferent, carrying on with their lives as usual. The only clue to the mystery is the presence of a woman who was the only one to keep her sight in the previous blindness epidemic.

Seeing is a satire on democracy and authoritarianism, as well as a commentary on the power and limits of vision. Saramago uses his distinctive style of long sentences, punctuation-free dialogue, and ironic humor to create a dystopian scenario that challenges the reader's assumptions and expectations. The novel raises questions about the meaning and value of political participation, the role of the media and public opinion, and the nature of human freedom and responsibility.

If you are interested in reading Seeing by Jose Saramago, you can download it in PDF or EPUB format from various online sources[^1^] [^2^]. You can also find other books by Jose Saramago on our website.

Seeing is not only a sequel to Blindness, but also a parallel story that explores the same themes from a different perspective. While Blindness focuses on the individual and collective experiences of the blind, Seeing examines the implications of seeing and being seen in a society under surveillance. The novel also contrasts the two modes of communication: oral and written. In Blindness, the characters rely on speech to communicate and survive, while in Seeing, the written word becomes a weapon of resistance and subversion.

The novel also draws on the history and culture of Portugal, Saramago's homeland. The city in the novel is never named, but it is clearly based on Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The events of the novel echo the Carnation Revolution of 1974, when a peaceful coup overthrew the dictatorship that had ruled Portugal for almost 50 years. Saramago was an active supporter of the revolution and a critic of the subsequent governments. He also faced censorship and controversy for his novels, which often challenged the religious and political establishment.

Seeing is a novel that invites the reader to reflect on the current state of democracy and human rights in the world. It also offers a vision of hope and solidarity in the face of oppression and injustice. As Saramago himself said, "Seeing is not about blindness, it is about what we do with what we see."