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Quickie Review: J. M. Coetze's Disgrace
Sep. 18th, 2011 09:22 pmBrilliant. As one expects from Coetze. This 1999 novel is an exploration of race relations, gender relations, family relations, and the inner crisis of the protagonist: a "Communications" professor at a technical college (God, do I sympathize) and aging womanizer, who rightly loses his job due to a charge of sexual harassment (no spoiler; this is on the back cover). The rest of the story concerns his attempts to go forward by reconnecting with his grown daughter, who lives a rather tenuous life on a rural farm as single white woman in a predominantly black community.
As much as I can say so without having set foot in South Africa, the story is an excellent illustration of the tangled mess of sorting out race relations post-apartheid. The intractability of the problems, the unbridgeability of the experiential chasm between black and white, reminds me quite a lot of discussions of privilege, Fail, tone argument, etc. on Dreamwidth/LiveJournal. However, where DW/LJ conflicts take place in the realm of narrative stereotype, meta post, and flame war, the conflicts Coetze describes threaten livelihood, limb, and life. He paints a convincingly frightening picture of a set of social wounds that, at best, can only be healed by the slow crawl of multi-generational change.
On a more personal level, the book explores the notion--which I am increasingly afraid may be correct--that one can only truly grow, or at least make a leap in growth, by losing nearly everything.
It's a dark book (though not morbid) but highly recommended to those who don't require their reading light.
As much as I can say so without having set foot in South Africa, the story is an excellent illustration of the tangled mess of sorting out race relations post-apartheid. The intractability of the problems, the unbridgeability of the experiential chasm between black and white, reminds me quite a lot of discussions of privilege, Fail, tone argument, etc. on Dreamwidth/LiveJournal. However, where DW/LJ conflicts take place in the realm of narrative stereotype, meta post, and flame war, the conflicts Coetze describes threaten livelihood, limb, and life. He paints a convincingly frightening picture of a set of social wounds that, at best, can only be healed by the slow crawl of multi-generational change.
On a more personal level, the book explores the notion--which I am increasingly afraid may be correct--that one can only truly grow, or at least make a leap in growth, by losing nearly everything.
It's a dark book (though not morbid) but highly recommended to those who don't require their reading light.
