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Posts tagged ‘JM Coetzee’

27
Feb

“Elizabeth Costello”

I say what I mean. I am an old woman. I do not have the time any longer to say things I do not mean.

Elizabeth Costello is an elderly Australian writer who despite having written several novels is primarily known for a book she published decades ago about the wife of a principal character of another novel, Ulysses by James Joyce. Frustrated that her other works are often ignored, she chooses to speak on controversial issues, philosophers, and unrelated topics when asked to give a lecture, conduct a seminar, or interact with those in the literary world. Read more »

10
Mar

“Disgrace”

One can punish a dog, it seems to me, for an offence like chewing a slipper. A dog will accept the justice of that: a beating for a chewing. But desire is another story. No animal will accept the justice of being punished for following its instincts.

Such is the limited reasoning ability of David Lurie, a middle-aged (52) White South African man who spends his days as an adjunct professor at Cape Technical University in Cape Town where he teaches introductory communications courses which bore him and leave him with nothing but contempt for the students he regards as ignorant. That a dog has a desire to chew or that some instincts, if acted upon, should be punishable acts doesn’t seem to occur to Lurie, a twice divorced serial womanizer who chalks his desires up to instinct and therefore not something he should be sorry for. Read more »