The social order in South Africa is changing
and you can pick it up even on a holiday. There is talk of danger, the unease
is openly displayed and stories are told, retold and passed around. There ‘race’ is not politically incorrect and
nobody is hiding the anger or the fear.
But it took Coetzee
Disgrace for me to really understand what was happening there- the extent of
it, the politics of it and the weight of its history.
It is superfluous to
talk of Coetzee narrative skills, his insights and his brilliant characters- so
let’s consider them said.
Disgrace begins with
the story of the sexually active professor of
Romantic Poetry David Lurie. He
has an affair with a student, an affair with strong over- tones of Lolita, an
affair doomed to go wrong. It does and he is summoned to face a committee of
inquiry. He admits his guilt but refuse to apologize for it and he is forced to
resign.
He moves in with his
daughter who is running a farm. They become victims of a violent and horrific
attack, an attack with sinister implications. Coetzee explores the issues that
are at the heart of south Africa’s socio-cultural-political climate of south
Africa yet the story remains the tale, the journey and the struggle of a single
man.
A brilliant book. It
will leave you with a sense of discomfort, many questions and like all great
writing many insights too.
©Maya
