Literature: J. M. Coetzee

I don’t often recommend books to read. People seldom take the time to read anymore – not the classics, anyway. Today a woman called to tell me she had enjoyed one of the authors I had suggested to her years ago. Ironically, she had read a book that I have yet to get to.

J. M. Coetzee is South African (or was), now living in Australia. He is a contemporary of Nadine Gordimer, also South African. The two could not be more different. Gordimer writes erratically and from the heart. It’s sometimes difficult to follow. I did like “The Pickup” for her vivid depiction of the desert. I started several of her other books but never could finish them.

Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for “Disgrace” in 2003. Oddly enough, I only got to it earlier this year.

I was first introduced to J. M. Coetzee in college when assigned “Life and Times of Michael K”. I no longer remember the details of the plot, but I do remember the feeling it left me with and the novel’s pivot that made it unique. The protagonist is a simpleton. It was pointed out to me (I don’t think I thought of it myself) how difficult it must have been to write an interesting story about a simpleton. Yet, Coetzee had pulled it off; so much so, I remembered his name all during the decades when I read nothing at all.

The next book of his I happened across was “Slow Man”. Again, it was the story of an ordinary man who had lost his leg in a bicycle vs. auto accident and was trying to adjust to his loss - should have been a bomb. Not so. It pulled the reader along, page by page, sustaining interest in small, ordinary things; obviously very skillfully told. “Disgrace”, Coetzee’s breakthrough novel, again, was just as advertised – and more. It told of South Africa at the end of Apartheid through the eyes of a man burdened with his own troubles.

When comparing Gordimer to Coetzee, I see cars. Gordimer is an economy model (possibly Italian). It sputters and moves in fits and starts. Even when fitfully tuned, it coughs, rattles and shakes. Coetzee, on the other hand is a Rolls-Royce. From the first sentence, you can expect a smooth and solid ride. Coetzee is a reader’s writer. He sees to every comfort the reader could possibly want: easy, yet not simple prose; characters are defined again with each mention (not like the oodles of characters in thick, meaty Russian novels that make you lose your place and leave you hanging). He does not use sex or violence gratuitously. When it suits the plot, such things happen, and then it’s over. He does not build suspense in the usual predictable way. He simply makes us deeply interested in the characters he portrays. Not sure how he does it. In fact, it never occurs to even ask the question. He makes it look simple.

I know, of course, that it isn’t (simple). It requires uncommon discipline and much editing, and endless polishing. Coetzee’s novels tend to be relatively short. But they are gems.

The woman who called me today is an avid reader in several languages. She had found “Diary of a Bad Year” in a Vermont second-hand book shop. By the time she finished reading, she was excited and gushing. Everything I’ve said about Coetzee she would now second. …and she’s ready for more.
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Interesting to note the narrative that is emerging after Obama’s so-called bin Laden kill. On one hand you have a virtual treasure trove of material that shows bin Laden as head of a significant worldwide organization, inspiring and directing his followers to inflict dastardly damage on ‘The Great Satan’ that is America; that he was larger than life and quite worthy of Obama’s wrath and anger, so skillfully employed in his capture. On the other, he’s portrayed as a broken-down pervert, living in a hovel amidst half-eaten scraps of food, surfing analog TV in his underwear.

You would think that given a story with so many holes, this administration would make an effort to remain at least somewhat consistent. Suffice it to say, that no one writing the scripts for Obama has any notion of good literature. They have taken a terrific plot and reduced it to an incomprehensible mess, leaving most people scratching their heads.

The coda, to be released as soon as next week, said to reset this administration’s commitment to Middle East peace, should be painful to watch. Already, the race is on to preempt and outflank Netanyahu’s own initiatives, also scheduled to make headlines during the Israeli leader’s upcoming visit to Washington (next week).

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Portents

As happens so often, over and over again: On one hand, successful and creative individuals discover that the exercise of free self-expression is the one elixir that makes life overall tolerable; while, on the other, they invariably go out of their way to support leftist causes. The Left consistently uses these ‘useful idiots’ to grab power and then spits in their faces once the goal has been achieved.

Case and point: For years now, octogenarian author, Nadine Gordimer has been championing leftist causes in her native South Africa. Now that the ANC - which she has long actively supported - has come to power, she has been reduced to pleading for the right to free and open expression once again. (Three of her novels were banned during Apartheid.)

It has come to light that the present, freely elected SA government is highly corrupt. The government blames the media and threatens censorship and worse. The recent unlawful arrest of a Sunday Times reporter has sent a powerful and terrifying message throughout the South African journalist community.

In case no one has noticed, in our country the same media that vaulted Obama to the presidency, is now also coming under attack. Hollywood’s turn is certain to be next. They won’t notice, of course. They’ll be too busy congratulating themselves for the deportation of conservative talk show hosts to U.S. government re-education camps. It’ll all have been legal and above board, after proper public trials with the honorable Nobel prize recipient and Princeton luminary, Paul Krugman, presiding. (By the way, read his column today. It’s a laugh. He’ truly outdone himself.)

Folks, we’ve got a live one here!
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Along a similar vein, there’s a story by Mary O’Grady in today’s WSJ about the supposed coup attempt in Ecuador this past week. As I have suggested previously, substitute the name Obama for Correa in the story and you’ll have a very good indication what may yet lie in store for us.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

'Disgrace'

One must always keep in mind that every loss is a win for somebody; that every failure opens a door to a fresh opportunity; that every defeat is celebrated somewhere as a victory. When we say that things do not look good, we say so strictly from the viewpoint of our own perspective. Because we are blinded by vanity, we assume that everyone else sees everything the same way we do. But how can this be?

The 9/11 skyjackers targeted the twin towers. You might say they had a brief moment of celebration when they were about to hit their mark. Indeed, the whole of the Middle East celebrated along with them. They became martyrs, heroes to millions. If there is such a thing as 72 virgins, these are with them now. They are not in hell, eternally suffering. They have redeemed themselves; they have found salvation in achieving their purpose.

In fact, they have achieved even more than they had hoped for. Primarily because of 9/11, America today stands divided and bankrupt. It has become a political ruin. All her geo-political alignments are poised to collapse as well: UK, Israel, Western and Eastern Europe…

We know how these things happen. We hear them carefully delineated endlessly: the milestones that mark the fall of great powers. Yet, we can no longer defend ourselves against the onslaught; we cannot stop our plunge into the abyss. History is against us. Islamists and communists, by the sheer weight and momentum of history, are slated to win the next round.

I just finished reading the novel, ‘Disgrace’ by J.M. Coetzee. The author won the Nobel Prize in Literature for same. Given the Nobel committee’s proclivity to use its considerable platform to promote ideology, we can therefore assume that this slim volume can also be read as a political statement. Coetzee is South African. He writes about his country; his experience. He evaluates the changes that loom large in his part of the world: the end of apartheid; the chaos that ensues in the vacuum created by the forced departure of the old order. The protagonist is an academic – a teacher of traditions that have become irrelevant.

In an earlier thread I spoke of alternatives. J. M. Coetzee, the author of ‘Disgrace’ has left South Africa and moved to Australia.