CU-MA-SEM-III-Specialization I – Post Colonial Novel- Second review

which unfortunately could not even be resolved through military intermediation by supposed ‘peacekeepers. U.S. neo-imperialism has a clear-cut resemblance to the European Imperialism in terms of political orchestration, economic mastery, and the inclination to impose martial dominance. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the presence of variabilities. Once decolonization happened, numerous ex-colonial territories realized fundamental rights and duties as citizens of newly formed independent dominions. Yet, the birthing of these nation-states produced new predicaments in the post-imperial era. Interestingly, nation-states created in the post-colonial period have imposed hurdles in the governmental stronghold of the world’s poorest to the borders of their own nation-states. Simultaneously, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work to uplift destitute and marginalized communities appear to be serving the whims and fancies of their donors more than their clients. Hence, it is highly far-fetched that the deep-seated issues posed by neo-imperialism will be addressed by pouring money from the wealthier states towards impoverished nations. Prejudices will perpetuate and thrive until the world’s poorest citizens find ways by which they can intervene to revamp and reorganize socio-economic and political policies in their favour. 6.10 DECOLONISATION Decolonization is the systematic procedure of demolishing the colonial reign in its every form that exists. It also includes crumbling down all the invisible structures and practices which propagated the perpetuation of colonialism. During its inception, decolonization involved destroying fraternities that were a by-product of colonialism. It was an inevitable phenomenon since early nationalists had learned to visualize themselves as probable heirs to European political systems and figurines of culture. This idea took place not only in settler colonies where the white colonial élite was a direct product of the system, but also in colonies of occupation. Macaulay’s infamous 1835 Minute on Indian Education had pondered over the creation of independent India of simply a group of ‘brown, white men’, were educated to admire and embrace the culture of the imperialists while castigating their own. This is the locus classicus of this authoritative manner of exerting dominance, but there are countless other instances in the traditions prevailing in other colonies. Be it Africa, India, or the Caribbean Islands, the first nationalists can also be considered as modernizers, who wanted less to affect the rejection of imperial traditions than adopt it. The procedure of political and cultural ‘brokerage’, as termed by some academics, involved decolonialization in a percipient implicitly with the princely states from which they wanted surface as independent entities. Their typical mindset and heritage had been imbibed with the principles and tenets that had been taught to view as belonging to a modern and urbane state (de Moraes Farias and Barber 1990). Unfortunately, political freedom was not necessarily an 151 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

implication of the autonomy of the subservient, as several colonial traditions persisted in the ex-colonies for centuries post-independence. In colonial territories where the community of the masses had been side-lined or denigrated, the resistance movement against colonial practices was highly profound. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian independence activist and leader, stated that the designation of neo-colonialism was a sign of universal dominance at the mercy of an indigenous elite class. Being an advocate for socialism, Nkrumah limited his hypothesis of the neo-colonial endeavours of imperialism to the enhancement of the capitalist movement in the West. With the proliferation of the financial sector, political autonomy did not anticipate modifications in the monetary and political superintendence that the initial nationalists might have envisaged. Certain critics of today have even rationalized that the colonizers had delayed granting freedom to their ex-colonies until they had, via through internal prejudices and commanding teaching practices, catalysed an élite (comprador) class to maintain certain facets of imperial rule, but in the absence of a direct governance. Besides monetary and fiscal supremacy, the persisting commandment of Eurocentric cultural figurines gave privileges to the imported over the indigenous; the linguistics of the noble were the preferred choice of medium than domestic dialects, they were taught more often than the indigenous dialect, writing took priority over orality, and linguistic culture over inscriptive practices, including dance, music, and arts, all of which were classified as ‘folk culture’. Standing in staunch opposition to these occlusions and overwriting of heritage that was prevalent in the pre-colonial era, several decolonization reform movements have been attempted. Among these programmes, those that try to inculcate the importance of the local language have been more prominent. The gravitational pull of the globalized economic system means that the élite mode of communication is applied using the formerly colonial languages, especially the new ‘world language’ of English, whose power derives from its ancient use in the largest of empires to have existed and its dominant use in the United States. In post-colonial societies where proxies are present, the recommendation is that embracing the indigenous languages can reform and reclaim people’s perception towards their own heritage. Moreover, it can also bridge the gap between the majority culture and the lives of those communities who have carried out their entire livelihoods in their indigenous dialects. Thus, decolonization reform movements who have advocated for a restoration to the local languages have helped in the execution of social programmes and programmes for cultural recuperation to democratize domestic heritage. In Africa, the work of Ngugi wa Thiong’o has been spearheading this model of decolonization (Ngugi 1981a, 1986, 1993). India has also espoused this model to a significant extent, where, due to the indomitable power and diversity of local languages, steps have been undertaken to revaluate writings and other forms of humanities produced using Indian languages (Ahmad 1992; Devy 1992). Nevertheless, one should not presume that these languages have been unnerved by colonialism, as the styles 152 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

that they now employ, such as drama, magazines, television scripts, fiction, prose, drama, and so on, are a residual effect of imperialism. Only the most acute variants of decolonization can recommend that pre-colonial rituals and traditions can be revived in an untouched form by decolonization reforms (see nativism). Presently, a couple of post-colonial researchers (Appiah 1992; Gikandi 1992; Mudimbe 1994) have put forth doubts regarding the underlying hypothesis upon which acute decolonization movements have been implemented, attest from a range of multiple viewpoints that the arrangements by which, to use Mudimbe’s phrase, ‘African worlds have been established as realities for knowledge’ are incongruous and are in miscellaneous supply, and have been inducted in imperial order of knowledge similar to that of the domestic ones. Kenyan critic Simon Gikandi, for instance, postulated that several decolonization rituals ‘were predicated on the assumption that African cultures and selves were natural and holistic entities which colonialism had repressed, and which it was the duty of the African writer, in the period of decolonization to recover (if only the right linguistic and narrative tools could be developed), there is now an urgent need to question the ideological foundations on which the narratives of decolonization were constructed’ (Gikandi 1992: 378). Gikandi’s audit critiques the connection between national narratives and decolonizing processes and contends that the discourse and debate on nationalism and independence (or, in some later texts, of the disillusioning failure of such narratives and such nationalist discourses) are inadequate procedures of performing an inquiry and rectifying the problems encountered by countries post-independence. For Gikandi, the task in front of African scholars and academics, as well as other writers, is ‘to theorise adequately… the problematic of power and the state’. Hence, Gikandi maintains the stance that the blueprints of decolonization, resembling that of Ngugi’s in novels like Matigari, are ‘both a symptom of the problems which arise when the narrative of decolonization is evoked in a transformed post-colonial era and a commentary on the problematics of a belated national narrative’ (Gikandi 1992: 379). Writers like Salman Rushdie, who have undertaken a ‘transnational’ identity and attempt at anatomizing the post-colonial, independent politic, are often ostracized and criticized as not being proactive in the decolonization narrative. However, this thought presumes a continuity or linearity between decolonization and the formation of the idea of a nation and nationalism, as a consequence of which the arguments made by Gikandi are disputable. In fact, the borders and images of a nation supposedly free from the shackles of colonization may be fictitious, since colonial practices are still being exercised, either through multinational corporations or control in the hands of the former colonial masters. Decolonization, although open to interpretation, is a convoluted process that is not merely granted once a state becomes free from colonial reign. 153 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

In the settler colonies, the process of decolonization can also be seen to transpires in a completely different setting. Although political autonomy was granted based on the inherited British model, ex-colonies continued to endure what the famous Australian commentator A.A. Phillips wittily characterized as ‘a cultural cringe’ because of which the political independence only existed on paper (Phillip 1958, 1979). Likewise, they have recurrent although much less accomplished in comparison to other colonies in deconstructing the colonial traditions in the ordinary course of affairs. This took place due to the overruling command of the notions exerted by the Imperial Rule, reiterated in phrases such as ‘sons and daughters of Empire’. Such relations tended to keep the settler colonies at the beck and call of their colonial rulers (Docker 1978), which were usually at the expense of acknowledging the civil liberties of the indigenous population. 6.11 SUMMARY  The mission of post-colonialism is to hold accountable, acknowledge, and combat the vestiges of the colonial reign on different cultures.  A fundamental aim of postcolonial hypothesis is permitting and providing a voice to those that had been overlooked by the dominant classes.  The critical nature of postcolonial theory comprises of demolishing Western ways of thinking, and creating space for the subaltern or the marginalized, to change the dominant discourse.  Postcolonialism is the study of one’s cultural identity in colonized societies, such as the dilemma of developing a national identity separate from colonialism, the ways in which writers describe and acknowledge that identity by reclaiming it from their colonizers, the different ways in which the knowledge of the subjugated population has been generated to serve the interests of the colonizer; and how the colonizer's literature has justified colonialism using images of the colonised as a perpetually inferior group of people, society, and culture.  Magical realism is a category or literary style that portrays the real world as having an undercurrent of magic or fantasy, where imaginary objects or phenomena are depicted as a normal occurrence.  Discourse is a formal speech, a narration, or the treatment of any subject at length, a treatise, dissertation, or sermon.  Essentialism is the presumption that groups, categories, or a given class of objects have uniform characteristics exclusive to all members of that group or society.  As a term, ‘nation’ refers both to the modern nation-state and to something more ancient and nebulous – the ‘natio’–a local community, domicile, family, or the condition of belonging.  In simple terms, the ‘other’ is anyone who is separate from oneself. The existence of the other is crucial in defining what is ‘normal’ and in locating one’s own place in the world. 154 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 In postcolonial theory, Imperialism always refers to the theology where one group of people or a nation assumes that it is inherently superior to other people or nations due to certain qualities or characteristics and hence has the right, or obligation, to reform or civilize societies that it deems inferior.  Negritude is a system of critique and literary theory aimed at raising and cultivating ‘Black consciousness’ across the African populace.  The term ‘neo-colonialism’ represents the actions and effects of certain remnant features and agents of the colonial era in each society.  While imperialism implies conquering and ruling states and colonialism is the migration and residence in occupied territories, neo-imperialism indicates indirect rule over formerly ruled states through lawful socio-economic and political treaties.  Decolonization is the process of tearing apart and dismantling colonialist power in all its forms. 6.12 KEYWORDS  Postcolonial Terms: Words and concepts related to postcolonialism.  Postcolonial Theory: A school of thought focused on holding accountability for the impact and aftermath of European colonial reign from the eighteenth until the twentieth century.  Postcolonial Studies: The academic arena concerned with the legacy of imperial rule and studying the residual impact of human exploitation of colonial subjects at the hands of their colonizers.  Magic Realism: A literary or artistic genre which combines realistic and fantasy- based narratives to produce literature.  Discourse: Formal and orderly and usually extended expression of thought on a subject. 6.13 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Discuss the effects of neo-colonisation in various postcolonial nations. How has it affected your life? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. Find instances of colonialism in play at a smaller level in our day-to-day life and discuss its effects on the colonized. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 155 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

6.14 UNIT END QUESTIONS 156 A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What are the differences between colonialism and post-colonialism? 2. Give an outline of the postcolonial writings of Spivak. 3. What is the process of political and cultural ‘brokerage’? 4. What is neo-imperialism? 5. What were Césaire’s contributions to the Negritude movement? Long Questions 1. How does magic realism play a significant role in postcolonial narratives? 2. Write a short note on the idea of ‘other’ in a postcolonial narrative. 3. Differentiate between colonialism and neo-colonialism. 4. How does the process of decolonization affect a nation? 5. Write a short note in essentialism in postcolonial theory. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Magic realism happens when____________. a. Your dog answers you in Latin b. Wings sprouts on your back. c. Your best buddy turns into a bug. d. All of these 2. Magic Realism does NOT include___________. a. Predictable and boring b. Ordinary with the extraordinary c. Silly and crazy d. Mundane with the fantastic 3. Who among the following was a psychoanalyst? a. Frantz Fanon b. Chinua Achebe c. William Wordsworth d. Joseph Conrad 4. _____________ was a politician from Martinique. a. Marquez b. Aimé Césaire CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

c. Chinua Achebe d. Edward Said 5. __________ is the process of revealing and dismantling colonialist power in all its forms. a. Colonisation b. Decolonization c. Neo-imperialism d. Neo-colonization Answers 1-(d), 2-(a), 3-(a), 4-(b), 5-(b) 6.15 REFERENCES Textbooks  Ram, M. (2013). White But Not Quite: Normalizing Colonial Conquests Through Spatial Mimicry, Antipode, Vol.46(3).  Rayan, M.(2012) An Introduction to Criticism : Literature/ Film/ Culture, Wiley Blackwell, UK.  Morgan, S.(2001).My Place. New Delhi: Indialog Publications, Print.  Morton, S.( 2003). Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. London: Routledge. References  Naipaul, V.S.(1967). The Mimic Men. London: Andre Deutsch. Print.  Meredith, P. (1990). Hybridity in the Third Space: Rethinking Bi-Cultural Politics in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, He Pukenga Korero,Vol.4, No.2, pp.1-8.  Lavie, S. Ted S.( 1996). Displacement, Diaspora and Geographies of Identity, Duke University Press: USA.  Looker, M. (1996).Atlantic Passages: History, Fiction and Language in the Fiction of Sam Selvon. New York: Peter Lang. Websites  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/  https://www.academia.edu/  https://support.awemark.co/ 157 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT-7 J. M. COETZEE: THE WRITER Structure 7.0 Learning Objectives 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Coetzee’s Ideologies 7.3 Summary 7.4 Keywords 7.5 Learning Activity 7.6 Unit End Questions 7.7 References 7.0LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, student will be able to:  Explain the author and his life.  Appraise the works of the author and his writing style.  Criticize the author as a writer of the post-colonial period. 7.1INTRODUCTION It was on 9th February 1940 that John Maxwell Coetzee was born to bloedsappe, Afrikaners parent as their eldest child. “While his mother was a schoolteacher, his father was a trained lawyer, who however practiced only intermittently.” (Coetzee). “His bloedsappe, Afrikaners parents were supportive of General Jan Smuts, hence they did not get involved in the Afrikaner Nationalist Movement, which in the years to come became the ruling power of South Africa in the year 1948” (Marais). “It is to be noted that Coetzee's parents were not inhabitants ofGreat Britain, but they spoke English at home.” Coetzee), This language was used dominantly at the primary level schools into which Coetzee had enrolled in Cape Town, as well as Worcester and also in the Catholic Boys' School, Cape Town, that was run by Marist Brothers, where he completed his secondary education. 158 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

“As Coetzee recalls in his autobiography, Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life (1997), much of his childhood was spent in Cape Town. In this book Boyhood, there is a section that describes the way Coetzee spent time in Karoo on his Uncle’s farm and at the Cape Province semi-desert area” Marais). It is this area that serves as the backdrop of his novel Life & Times of Michael K (1983). He drew upon his experiences during childhood to show both English- as well as Afrikaans-speaking characters with equal prowess.” (Marais). Coetzee became an Australian emigrant and in 2006 he was granted an official Australian citizenship. In 1969 he gained a PhD in linguistics and taught English Literature at colleges in the United States and also South Africa. He went on to become a Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of Cape Town between 1999 and 2001, after which he went to Adelaide where he retired in 2002.Hehas written many critical publications which today serve as the medium to better learn and understand literary criticism, specifically for those who want to gain knowledge about the post-colonialism period in South Africa and how it influenced literature. It is interesting to note that though South Africa and Australia are in totally different regions of the globe, both have difficult and diverse colonial histories and serve as the backdrop of his novels. His novel actually carefully depicts the colonial settings as can be experienced inIn the Heart of the Country (1977) and Waiting for the Barbarians (1980). As readers pour over the lines, they are treated to large but sparse or nearly bare landscapes with colonialists living in those far-out regions that remind you of Australia and South Africa, but without actually mentioning them in name. Not all of Coetzee’s novels are set inSouth Africa and Australia as can be seen in the Booker Prize winning Disgrace (1999), which is set in a certain particular historical and geographical area, used just to enhance the novel's socio-political environment. This short insight reveals how Coetzee masterfully creates his novels, precisely drawing up oneverything, right from its structure to every sentence and word, There is a reason behind every information that is laid out for the reader even though these reasons can be confusing and difficult to pin-point to its exact sense. This point leads to the idea that the general understanding gained from every novel by Coetzee is not one of a 'conclusion', but rather the opposite of it which is... asking the question 'Why?'. One of the most interesting aspects of Coetzee's writing is the use of broad literary tradition which brings out the lack of resolution at the end of the work… a concept that is also seen in many well-crafted and highly thought-provoking novels. This explicit rejection of a resolution in the content matter of Coetzee’s novels is the quality that makes his work stand out in the Post/Colonial Writer genre. The works of this genre make particular use of the English literary canon. In some it is done quite explicitly while in others rather implicitly. 159 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Let’s take the example of his novel Foe (1986), which is seen as an open literary interpretation of the 18th century novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe. His drew up on a text that is actually considered as the first English novel, which brings out the story of a castaway who is deserted on a tropical island, but earlier to this incident he was on-board a ship that had transported African slaves to the Caribbean. In his novel Foe, Coetzee makes use of Defoe’s story linebut in the course of writing out the story actually undoes it in a very quiet but brilliant way. It is to be further noted that a particular quality about Coetzee’s work was the fact that it largely laid in the past, with exception to the novel The Life & Times of Michael K (1983). However, though his novels were based on the past, they were written in the present tense which is a quality enhanced their intrigue. His works were of different lengths but nevertheless they were influenced by poetry. As a result of this particular feature, the form of the written novel changed from what it used to be during the European and Imperialist History period. As a result, readers need to approach his novels in a way that they had never done earlier. If we take a look back into the world of Coetzee’s novels, you can see the peculiar way in which he makes use of literary and colonial historiography to ask poignant questions about the future of the world post the colonial era. Works. Dusklands (1974) This novel was published in South Africa during 1974 and actually consists of two short novellas that share a particular theme. This theme explores power or perhaps the lack of it, based on whose side you take in the work.It lays bare the concept of autocratic power to rule over people and how power can be shown in the form of prejudice over people who are considered to be lesser than humans. This work entails how it is mentally possible to bring down a whole nation of people, push forth only one’s own ideas and justify actions which are truly horrible and disgraceful. It clearly brings out the power to survive against all odds and also the strength of military machines as well as how white supremacy can dominate over people. This work brings out lucidly the results of culture clash, denigration of the human spirit and entire uprooting of a way of life for a particular sect of people. The novel Dusklands is the first work of the author, who in the years to come wrote many more works that touched so many people from all over the world. His writing skills were such that he won many prizes for it, such as two Booker Prizes, thus becoming the only writer to attain such achievements. It is to be noted that this novel might not be the most popular of his works, but it nevertheless contains the core idea based on which other novels rotated their concepts. It has all the key ideas that Coetzee's novels usually have such as narrow-mindedness, insensitive behavior, bigotry as well as the unhappiness that the victims underwent in the harsh realities that were drawn up in his novel’s world. In the Heart of the Country (1977). 160 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

This is Coetzee’s second novel and what’s unique about it is its narrator who is Magda, a white spinster. She resides inaSouth African farm in the typical style of a large home with a father surrounded by servants and field laborers. The narrator's father's personality was that of a callous authority on the farm and this coupled with the isolation of thefarm life resulted in a drastic effect on the narrator’s emotions and mental well-being. So, when her father decided to take a black mistress, her feeling about the matter are not only extreme but in the course of the happenings of this peculiar situation, the fine line between fantasy and reality began to fade away. Actually, readers can pin-point that the narrator’s way of presentation is unreliable because of many inconsistencies in the laying down of events. Take the example of the scene where Magda kills her father along with his mistress with an axe, which is a stark contrast to the scene that is narrated a little while later… when he is up and about. Another example is when sometime later Magda with a mix of jealousy and vengeance literally shoots her father in the middle of a passionate encounter with his mistress. Likewise, a similar scene isdepicted towards the end of the novel, wherein after a long but lengthy burial of her father, Magda continues to talk to him. The series of events that show passionate encounters are all arising from Magda’s imagination but not from any real occurrences. Throughout the novel, the reader can find sexual undercurrents in her relationships with servant Hendri and her father. In her conversations with Klein-Anna, Hendrik’s young wife there is such a lot of erotic tension as can be seen when Madga suggests to the couple about a love triangle. Magda’s narrative is full of her personal wishes that are highly intense, and it seems as if Coetzee, is himself talking. The reader can through Madga’s thoughts and words understand that the author asking about what is real in life and also about the reality of the times. Though the journal entries may blur out the realities, which may remain unknown forever, still what is certain is Magda’s disorientation and alienation due to her life in South Africa. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980). This work is a political allegory on the fear that surrounded imperial narratives not to mention the lust that lay behind colonial violence. It is written during South Africa’s apartheid era. This novel brings out clearly the effect of racism and the worry that the Empire has an imagined enemy within it. The settings of the grand empire in this novel are fictional and it is based in a historical period and location that is not known. However, the empire has so-called barbarians, whose job is to visit towns located at the border to carry out trade. The protagonist of this novel actually lives in one such outpost towns as an unnamed magistrate and largely lives peacefully here, happy to serve his empire. As the novel progresses, readers find the protagonist to confront the bad mentality that is the wheels behind the working of the Empire. As new men arrive for the purpose of driving out 161 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

barbarians, he is forced to accept the fact that either the brutality of the Empire is what is now defining it else he is experiencing how it run itself at close quarters like no one else. At the heart of it, this novel can be said as a story about people who cause pain to other in the most brutal way and in the process of doing so enjoy enacting cruelty very much. It is a story on the woes of power and how imperial paranoia was affecting so many inside the Empire. It also showcased the fact that the Empire was becoming the \"barbarians\" that it sought to destroy. When checked through another angle, this novel actually brings out a wide range of truths that people are not ready or comfortable to deal with.The protagonist is an individual who enjoys a liberal life but is in close quarters with the violence of the people who run the empire and give him this contented life. Hence, he simply does not want to be associated with the means used by the Empire to run itself and progress. However, this changes when a young nomad girl who has been blinded and also maimed is left in his care. As he tends to her, he reduces her suffering and while doing so he does come to terms with the fact that it is not her suffering alone that he is bringing down but rather his guilt at having been part of the violent doings of the empire mechanism. This novel serves as a powerful allegory on the mechanism of power and violence and actually examines the emotions that lie behind the “white guilt” burden carried in the heart of those who benefit from the Empire’s progress. Life and Times of Michael K (1983) This novel was saw its first publication in 1986 and is sets out the environment in South Africa during the colonial period. Michael K, the protagonist is a poor man working his way through a fictional civil war that was occurring at the time of apartheid. The way the author goes about setting down the plot and form of the novel is elaborated by Critic Herman Wittenburg. He states that Coetzee started writing his fourth novel on 31st May 1980, entitled “The Monologue of Annie”. The story revolves around the character Albert, a thwarted, who is also Annie’s brother. The setting is the dark and disturbing civil war environment, which is full of destruction and dissolution of existing order. The milieu in which Life and Times of Michael K (1983) is set can be traced back to first versions of the novel written before it Is waiting for the Barbarians which is also based in Cape Town, however this novel set off in a theme quite different. The narrator of the story in The Monologue of Annie is Annie and her brother Albert does not have a voice at all no wonder about this as he is simply unable to progress with the novella ‘Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist, which is an epic poem. In this novel Coetzee sets his story a little into the future fixing the year in 1984 basing this idea on the dystopian novel by George Orwell. This work has so many narrative ingredients mixed together such as the easy merger of 162 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Annie’s voice into that of Albert's mother, transformation of their shifting their white middle- class life into one of a working-class ‘coloured,’ family, showcasing themselves as nothing but estranged lovers or making him into a personality of that belonging to a precocious child, however such transfusions in thought and idea really made little progress in the novel. When it comes to the reviews that came out for Life and Times of Michael, they were mostly welcoming of it. While the Los Angeles Times declared it as a landmark novel written withcrystalline intensity, the Evening Standard reviewer stated that the work was indeed \" a stunning novel... and further elaborated that it was finished in a state of uplifted mind in spite of the g gloom and unhappiness that it contained and so highly recommends it. New York Times Book Review slated the novel as “so cleansing to the senses such that the evening seems to be sharpened and the hearing is highly enhancedThis novel won the 1983 Booker Prize and is deemed as one of the best works by Coetzee. Foe (1986) In this novel, J. M. Coetzee brings out the story of Robinson Crusoe in a completely different way. Most people, even if they have not read Daniel Defoe’s novel are now familiar with the iconic character ofthe central character Robinson Crusoe, his survival after enduring a shipwreck, by befriending a black companion Friday and so on. However, this novel challenges this familiarity of those who have read the Defoe novel in an ingenious way by basing it on another castaway, playing the main role in the same island as that of Robinson Crusoe, but his part in the drama was cut off and this person is Susan Barton. So what Coetzee is doing is bringing in a new character into the deserted island whose name is Susan Barton, who actually narrates his ingenious theme. The very familiar tale of Robinson Crusoe is actually transformed into something unfamiliar through this character becoming something more of a postmodern metafiction. Those who have read Robinson Crusoe and then read Coetzee Foe, would want to go back to the previous work and check it up against the author’s version. In this work, Coetzee imaginatively brings out that Daniel Defoe took away the story ofCrusoe, Friday, and Barton minus Barton, thus engineering it into his own story. There isno evidence against Defoe as Friday cannot tell anything with his tongue is missing as it has beencut away. Barton writes out the narrative but cannot tell it out to mute Friday The key to understanding what Coetzee is bringing out in his version is the story of a black manwho is unable to bring about his experience and the struggle that happens between the art of storytelling and money making, which takes the novel into a new platform of importance. This novel’s narrative elevates the authors into a higher standard of postmodern story reinvention through different points of view. Age of Iron (1990) 163 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

This novel is a 1990 publication and is Coetzee’s sixth work, one which gained him international recognition, even if it did not fetch him any of the many prestigious awards for literary works as did his other novels. However, it did add to the volume of work done by this author and gained him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. In this novel also the story is centredaround apartheid as is seen with his other novels. The appalling form of racial segregation, called apartheid was followed as a South African government policy did not stop till 1994. The backdrop of the novel is the middle of the apartheid years, duringwhich time there was an emergency state due to immense rebellion against the apartheidgovernment and unhappiness of people against apartheid. The central character of the novel is Mrs. Curren who is a university professor but now retired. Her problem is that she has been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in its final stage and as a result it has spread to her bones. Up to now her life was unaffected by the horrible apartheid policy but this changed when she lets a homeless man Vercueil, live in her yard. By getting to know him, she learns more about his life and how much violence and unsettlement is happening around her.She also realizes what a privileged white life she has been living and how many marginalized groups are highly affected by oppression. As a result, she starts sharing her feelings on this with those around here in the novel, but they reflect back that they feel the same way but are unable to do anything about it as they are powerless. While this is the main theme, there is also a subtle sub-theme in the novel, one which focuses on human ability to endure and change as they go through their life. While Mrs. Curren is quite old at 70 and has lived a normal life, but by coming across the sea of violence and unhappiness around her due to apartheiid, she changes her views of life and society’s behaviour at large. It is to be noted that the subject of apartheid is quite common in various Coetzee novels and that the author has vocally and in writing spoken against it . It was in 2002 that he migrated to Australia and went onto become a citizen in 2006. . The Master of Petersburg (1994) This book is a fictional work that brings out the Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian writer as the main character. It is an intense work, that draws upon the life of the writer and Russia’s history, causing largely disturbing results. This work won the Irish Times International Fiction Prize in 1995. The work starts with Dostoyevsky a coming into Saint Petersburg for the purpose of getting the belongings of his stepson Pave who had lost his life. He came to his lodge where Pavel had lived with an Anna Sergeyevna Kolenkina, a widow and her young daughter, Matryona. Here he finds out that his belongings were taken away by the police. 164 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Upon asking about it to the police, he finds out that his stepson had connections withSergey Nechayev, anotorious political agitator and he is now under the surveillance of Russian secret police for this connection. As he stays in St.Petersberg to get the release papers for collecting his stepson’s diaries, letter as well as other written information from the police, he find himself getting attracted to Anna Sergeyevna. As the police begin their findings into Pavel death, Nechayev contacts Dostoyevsky and takes him to the place where Pavel's body is located and tells him that none other than the police are behind his death. Dostoyevsky begins to suspect that Nechayev is telling lies and adding stories to the truth of the matter and so refuses to write out a political pamphlet that states his suspicions of the police killing his stepson. Instead, what he does is the opposite, which is write a pamphlet that accuses Nechayev, and his followers are the cause of his stepson’s death.In the course of events that follow, he finds out that this is what Nechayev intended-him to do for the purpose of bringing out the student agitation against establishment figures like Dostoyevsky. The university students now in a state of agitation set fire to the city during which time Dostoyevsky sits to write out a fictionalize account of events. The Lives of Animals (1999) This novel is quite unique among the works of South African author J.M. Coetzee. Due to it subject matter. It was published in 1999 and is a combination of both fictional and non- fictional writing to bring about the subject of animal cruelty into the forefront and discuss how man relates to animals in this context. In order to do this the writer makes used of fiction Australian writer named Elizabeth Costello. The protagonist of the novel is Elizabeth Costello, a high-profile feminist fiction writer and one who advocates animal rights in a passionate way. Her status in this aspect is threatened during the golden years of her writing by cruelty to animals and her utmost repulsion at such actions by humans. As she goes about defending animals, she treats humans in just the same way as they do when abusing animals and openly showing it off too. The unique feature about this work is the way Coetzee ends it, a quality that makes it more than just a novel or another story of meta-fiction The novel has a long short story in a particular section surrounding a writer Costello, but the rest of the book is a response to this part of the book, through actual real-life academic experts, each of whom specialize in a particular field of study. The names of them include Peter Singer, Marjorie Garber, Barbara Smuts and Wendy Doniger and there is such a huge range of voices from them, even one that deals with a story construction of a philosophical Socratic conversation between himself and daughter about eating hot dogs. It’s actually a very complicated novel with not just it being non-fictional and fictional, but also with the story part of the work references non-fictions area and the response given by realistic sources to fictional aspects of the work as if they were existing in reality. By drawing 165 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

such parallels, the author is indeed bringing forth a strong example, which has been open to debate since the work was first published. Disgrace (1999). This work revolves around the feelings and thoughts of the protagonist David Lurie The author gets into the mind of David Lurie, who is twice divorced and an academic. He is having trouble dealing with the standards placed by society on his physical desires. As he lost his job in Cape Town due to student sexual misconduct with a student, he goes onto living with his daughter Lucy. Lurie who isa Romantic literature specialist in Salem. In this town, his daughter finds life to be very harsh as there is all around them problems such as rape, poverty and crime but amidst a rural backdrop, which does not in any way resemble the rural scenes described by Wordsworth. So, he and his daughter must be caution, salvage what they can after they are hit by violence. This work has won the author a Booker Price and holds a prominent position amongst post- apartheid literary works. It is writers like Coetzee as well as others both black and white such Nadine Gordimer, Alan Paton who not only brought world attention to the appalling state caused by apartheid but also into the poor condition existing in South Africa. The difference between apartheid and post-apartheidliterature is largely in its theme and we can see that it deals with subjects such as AIDS epidemic, n bloodshed, homosexuality. The key feature about this novel is that it was written after 1995 when South Africa’s new constitution came into effect which gave men and women equal rights and also rights irrespective of sexual orientation. Led by Nelson mandala, the African National Congress (ANC), ruling party of the country, was the foremost in anti-apartheid movements. After apartheid, most people would consider SouthAfrica to be a very calm nation, but this did not take place in reality as violence levels enhanced. There were many incidents of car-jacking and so many farmers moved elsewhere or actually gave up doing agriculture as they could not survive through the violence experienced. The period between 1989 to 1994 saw a doubling of murder rate and it was stated that South African woman could expect rate twice in during her life on an average. As the times have become so problematic many of the wealthy South Africans, particularly those living in Johannesburg moved into gated communities. It is to be noted that the novel disgrace is very different from other works due to the fact that it is written from a third person narrator point of view who is David Lurie. This way of writing is best described through the words 'Free indirect discourse' and 'third person limited'. By using this technique, the audience gains information on not just the words of the narrator but also those that he does not speak out.Hence the reader becomes familiar in an in-depth way with the narrator’s [assigns, discourse, wants and feelings. In fact, Lurie's discourse is distinctively academic in nature. David Lurie is a perpetually thinking character, living more in abstract thought than concrete experience. Disgrace's 166 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

narrative style grows out of Lurie's studies in literature and language. Throughout the narrative, Coetzee inserts phrases in Afrikaans, Latin, German, Italian, and French into the text. David Lurie references romantic poets such as Byron and Wordsworth or Scarlatti's sonatas, Charles Dickens' novels, or Norman McLaren's films. David Lurie also pays close attention to language even in everyday conversation. Often in the novel, Lurie would linger over a word used by someone else or even himself delving into its context, connotation, or etymology. It is to be noted that Lurie's discourse is quite academic, and he is one character who is always thinking,quite into abstract thoughts, hence lacking real experiences.As you read the work, you become expose to so many phrases in languages such as French, Italian, German, Latin and Afrikaans. The narrator makes references to the works of romantic poets like Wordsworth and Byron, even Norman McLaren's films as well as or Scarlatti's sonatas and Charles Dickens' novels. A lot of attention is given by the narrator to language used in everyday life such that any word used by himself or someone else is checked in terms of its etymology, context and connotation. His use of language as the way he does in the novel is justone part of how the narratorin this novel is detached from the rest of South African society. While people who work in the land speak Xhosa where the opera and philosophy that Lurie knows does not matter or apply. However, his displacement from society began long before he was exiled to Salem. He moves away from being a specialty is Romantic poetry to someone who is a Communications professor, given only the choice of one elective course per semester for his literature stream. Thus, be becomes a man in exile. After having two divorces behind him, at the age of fifty-two, the narrator is unable to get on with a close relationship andin the novel, it is shown as a failure. This is seen with the poor women whom he takes up. His only chance of salvation is his daughter, yet he is unable to mend himself with this relationship as violence enters into his world. Elizabeth Costello (2003) This work was written in 2003 and it revolves around many different topics each of which are dealt with in detail. Various questions are asked throughout the book on these subjects and the story line is rich, making it an interesting read. However, with no information from the author on his intentions in this book as well as other, it is up to readers to draw inferences and understand the meanings. The protagonist Elizabeth is an animal rights advocate, and the reader can safely assume hers as the voice of the author himself. Hehas always brought forth his ideas on social and political topics. In the context of animal rights, he had begun advertising it not long before writing this novel. Like the main character of this-work, he too in real life protested against 167 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

animal husbandry, are vegetarians believing that by eating meat they are committing a type of criminal activity. The speeches given by Elizabeth and her discussions are quite possibly what the author would be doing himself and also carries out in his daily life. One point is clear that problems worrying Elizabeth also worry the author too and her protests against injustice are also his. This novel is the story of various moral issues, the world at large and how it functions today and the place that an author can find in it. Slow Man (2005). This novel is based on the story of a man who have to adjust to life after having lost his leg in due to a road incident. Readers are taken through various themes throughout the story such as how care should be given, the relationship that characters in the novel have with the author himself and the protagonist’s need to leave behind a legacy. This work is the first to come out from Coetzee after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. The protagonist is a middle-aged man named Paul Rayment and he succumbs to leg injury which causes loss of the limb when it gets hit by a careless young man driving a car. He then confines himself to an apartment where he becomes reclusive as he is cared for by various nurses. None of the nurses are suitable for his caring needs until he meets until Marijana. He develops feeling for the nurse and also starts caring for her son Drago, which makes their relationship more complex. He shares a common childhood with the nurse with his being in France and her in Croatia. In the course of his getting cared by Marijana, her husband begins to suspect her, which causes a lot of trouble in the family, resulting in her son having a fight with his father and moving in with Paul. .When Elizabeth Costello, a famed author lands in his doorstep, quite unexpectedly and also uninvited, he comes out with what he feels for Marijana and also at how he feels bad for what happened to him when riding his bicycle. However, her sudden presence in his life makes him quite unhappy and uneasy as he feel she is just using his experiences to create a character like hi in her next novel. This work is considered as a meta-fictional discourse which details the relationship between the author and the work’s many characters as well as the reality of the times. Diary of a Bad Year (2007). In this world there is an analysis of world politics, which is a new theme for the writer. In this novel, the writer brings out the various aspects of the times in which we live with a strong moral compass. The novel’s central character is “Señor C,” an author well into his senior years who has been asked by a German publisher to set down thoughts on the current state of the world. Strong Opinions is what these thoughts are called, and they take on a wide range of subjects and encompass berating judgement on key politicians such as Blair, Bush and Cheney. The book has a take on everything ranging from Machiavelli to the current 168 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

happenings in subject such as university, literature, music and intelligent design, giving thought provoking ideas and insights into each of them all through the way. The Childhood of Jesus (2013) In this novel, the story is based on a man and boy who happen to migrate to a new region. Once they reach the place their identities are made new with them being assigned new names, given a rough age estimate and taught Spanish. The reason for such changes was to make them familiar with their surroundings. The elder of the two is Simon, who starts work at a grain wharf and while working becomes friends with his co-workers. While working there he wants to find the mother of the younger boy David who in reality does not remember anything about her but assumes that he will know when he meets her in person. While they are on a walk, David becomes close to a woman he feels is his mother and pushes Simon into chatting with her. While talking to her Simon literally persuades her to take on the role of being David’smother. As David is being cared for by this woman, the authorities exerttheir authority stating thatDavid should be taught in a distant school. As Neither Simon nor the woman want this to happen, they flee from the authorities in the hope of outrunning them and in the process keeping their custody of David. Achievements Throughout his career Coetzee has been the recipient of numerous awards, though he is more known for avoiding award ceremonies. The Booker Prizes received between 1983 and 1999 The author is known to be the first to get two Booker Prize awards twice for his works. He received one for the novel Life & Times of Michael K in the year 1983 and another for the novel Disgrace in the year 1999. This feat has been achieved onlyby four other authors in the year 2020 and they are Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, J.G. Farrell and Hilary Mantel. Actually, one of his novels Summertime, was a hot favourite to win the Booker Prize in 2009 having made its name into the long-list, however, it lost to Wolf Hall, by Mantel, a bookmakers' favourite. Other works that made their way into the long list include Elizabeth Costello in 2003 and Slow Man in 2005. Another novel that was equally longlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize includes Schooldays of Jesus which is a precursor to the novel The Childhood of Jesus published in 2013. Nobel Prize in Literature of the year 2003 169 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

It was in the year 2nd October 2003 that Horace Engdahl, who is the head of the Swedish academy, stated that Coetzee was selected for the Nobel Prize in Literature award for the year. This announcement made Coetzee is fourth African writer to get such an honour and also the second South African writer, with the first position being held by Nadine Gordimer. The Swedish Academy said after giving the award that Coetzee has in “countless ways shows a mystery involvement of an outsider”. In a press release for the award, the Academy stated that the author’s awards is proof of his “well-written work, full of in-depth dialogue andwell- researched thinking” and also look into the moral lessons behind his work. The ceremony for prize distribution was held at the year of 2003 on December 10th. Various Recognitions Adnd Awards Given To The Author The author has won South Africa's CNA Prize three times. The novel Waiting for the Barbarians gained both Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The Sunday Express Book of the Year award went to his work Age of Iron, while The Irish Times International Fiction Prize in 1995 was given the Master of Petersburg award. In addition to this, Coetzee has also won two Commonwealth Writers' Prizes for the African region and the French Prix Femina étranger. This was given for works Master of St Petersburg in 1995 and for Disgrace in 2000. In case of the work Disgrace, he got the award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace) and also the 1987 Jerusalem Prize for the novel Freedom of the Individual in Society. The Lannan Literary Award for Fiction.was conferred the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction in 1998. He was also given he Order of Mapungubwe (gold class) by the South African government in the year 2005 for his outstanding work in literature and for bringing forth South Africa into global presence. He has also gained doctorates from many institutions like Rhodes University, The University Of Adelaide , The Universidad Iberoamericana, The American University Of Paris, The University Of Natal, The University Of Natal, The University Of Strathclyde La Trobe University, The Adam Mickiewicz University In Poznań Coetzee is called the most awarded and recognized living English-language author by Richard Poplak of the Daily Maverick in the year 2013. Adelaide Coetzee was given the keys to the city by Lord Mayor of Adelaide in 2004. He was given the role of international ambassador for Adelaide Writers' Week in 2010, along with two other authors – the English poet Michael Hulse and an American novelist Susanna Moore. The author is .M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice (JMCCCP) patron, established in 2015, which is a cultural, research institution It runs various workshops to provide a learning 170 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

environment for upcoming as well as well-known writers, musicians and scholars. His work give inspiration that enhances engagement with various political and social matters in addition to music. A three-day academic conference was held in November 2014 at Adelaide for the purpose of honouring Coetzee. It is named \"JM Coetzee in the World\". The conference was carried out for the purpose of completing the huge collaborative activities and is a first of its type in Australia. It also shows the deep esteem that the Australian academia has for John Coetzee. 7.2 COETZEE’S IDEOLOGIES Fred Pfeil said that André Brink, Breyten Breytenbach and Coetzee, were “the forerunner for the anti-apartheid movement taking place inside Afrikaner literature and letters”. When accepting the Jerusalem Prize in 1987, the author spoke about the restraints of artthat the in South African society had to put up with. Asa result, very sadly due to lack of artistic expressions, people here had to endure poor, stunted and deformed relations between human beings and a very low inner life. Based on this idea, the author points out that the literary works fromSouth Africa were one of bondage and does not belong to the genre of fluffy human literature and can be said as one that comes out of a person writing from a prison. He calls upon the government to end its apartheid regime and according to Isidore Diala, a prominent scholar Brink, Nadine Gordimer and Coetzee were prominent writers who came from a white background but ones who have deep rooted commitment to anti-apartheid policy. In Coetzee's novel Disgrace which was published in 1999 is an allegory on Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the South African government. When asked his ideas and thoughts on it, the author stated that in a state that has no official religion, the TRC stands for a court that has much of Christian teaching and also on a thin string of Christian teaching that is accepted only by a minute proportion of citizens of South Africa in their hearts. It is left to the future to revels what TRC has actually achieved. Coetzee stated after getting his Australian citizenship that getting it did not mean he left South Africa, a country with which he ids deeply bonded, but rather that he had come to Australia. He was attracted to Australia right from 1991, when he had the Chance to first interact with the people there. He was taken up by their free, generous spirit, the country's natural beauty and specifically by the elegance of the city Adelaide which he calls his home. However, after he moved into Australia, he brought out that the South African government is poor on catching crime, which led to a fight with Thabo Mbeki who stated that the country was not the only one in the world that had rape problems, which was basically highlighting Coetzee’s novel Disgrace. This changed when the African National Congress's accepted to a racist investigation on South African Human Rights Commission in the newspapers. The 171 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

commission also stated that Coetzee’s novel Disgrace brought out many racist stereotypes. So, when the author won the Nobel Prize, he was actually congratulated by Mbeki on behalf of the country and the Africa continent. Politics Though the author has touched upon many political ideas in his works, he have not spoken about any political orientation as such. In the work Doubling the Point, he brings out his past through a third person narrative, where he says that during his childhood days in Worcester, he has come across much understanding about what is Afrikaner right, enough of what it is and should be to last a lifetime. In fact, it is in this place that he saw so much of violence and cruelty that perhaps should never have been shown to a child of that age. Hence when he became a student, he went to the borders of the left party but without actually becoming a part of it. As he becomes more sympathetic to the left, what happens to him is alienation. When Coetzee was questioned about the left and his remarks about it, he answered that the left has become such a party that there is nothing really worth to speak about them and there is no language that can describe them now. Actually, what is seen now is political language which now has an economistic bent that makes it more horrible than what it was 15 years back. The author was one of the 61 signatories of a letter sent to Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister in February 2016. It was sent by Peter Dutton, an immigrant minister bringing down the government on asylum seekers offshore detention policy. Law One of the points pushed forth by Coetzee is his views on the latest anti-terrorism laws in the year 2005. He compared them to the regulations set forth by the South African government during the apartheid regime. He stated that he thought that those who were responsible for creating the laws of South Africahas actually put moral barbarianism into cold storage, but when compared to anti-terrorism laws he felt that they were just those who were the first of such thinking in their times. In his work 2007 Diary of a Bad Year, which has been brought out as a work that mixes reality with story, combines story-telling with studies criticism and lacking the recognition of the fineline that separates fictional storytelling from political theory, bringing out concerns on the policies that were propagated by George W. Bush and John Howard. Animals Recently, author Coetzee became an animal right advocate and has vocally criticized cruelty to animals. Hugo Weaving gave a speech on his behalf about it on 22 February 2007, in Sydney. in which he brings out the author’s feelings about animal husbandry industry as how 172 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

it is run today. This speech was given on behalf of voiceless which is an animal protection institute, which is an Australian animal protection organization for non-profit for the author in 2004 became a patron. In his work, you can find the author talking about or bringing up the subject of cruelty to animals and also about animal welfare and furthermore, he is a vegetarian. You can read his opinions on animal treatment in novels such as Disgrace, The Cats, Disgrace, The Old Woman and Elizabeth Costello. In 2008, Coetzee wrote to the Irish Times after getting an alert from John Banville about his disapproval of vivisection on animals as they were needed for scientific research by Trinity College Dublin.The author wrote that he supported John Banville thoughts on this and felt that there was no need for students to cut living animals for the purpose of pedagogical or scientific research and by allowing students to do this the college is bringing disgrace upon itself. An incident happened after nine years, when a RTÉ Radio 1 weekday afternoon show listener Live line spoke out that Banvillee had brought up the point of TCD’s vivisection featured in the news but was ignored. Listening to this, Banville telephoned Liveline and asked him to state the practice as highly detrimental and said also that effort from both Banville and Coetzee had been ignored. As he passed through Trinity college gates, he saw a group of protesting young women and became interested in their actions. When he spoke to them, they said that vivisection experiments were still carried out in the college which was a surprise and shock to Banville. So, he wrote a letter about it to The Irish Times for which a Trinity College lady professor replied saying that Banville should not bother about the matter and leave the scientists to do their work. When questioned about support for his letter to The Irish Times, he replied that he did not get any and more so was quite dispirited. He thought to himself that he should just keep quiet as he would not be doing anything much and if he had got any proper output, he would have kept up with the protesting, after all he had got aletter from one other than the famous writer J. M. Coetzee to the Irish Times. In fact, he had asked a lot of people to support him. The author had the desire to become a 2014 European Parliament election candidate for the Dutch Party for the Animals, However, this was rejected by the election board, reason being that he did not have proven legal residence inside the EU to gain candidacy. 7.3SUMMARY  On 9 February 1940John Maxwell Coetzee was born and his birthplace was Cape Town, South Africa.  His emigrated to Australiaand got an official Australian citizenship in 2006. 173 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 His work Dusklands published in South Africa during 1974is actually two short novellas having a common idea but not a single novel unlike his other works.  The work Waiting for the Barbarians is actually a political allegory that brings out the fear that existed at the bottom of the imperial establishments statements and also brings out the blood thirst of colonial violence.  The life and times of Michael K that was first published in 1983 is a fiction that brigns out reality of a poor man named Michael K residing in South Africa and having to put up with a fictional civil war during the apartheid rule.  In Foe, once again the story is about Afican struggle during an apartheid regime, but here such is the narrative that those who have not read Robinson Crusoe become moreacquainted with the story of a castaway shpiwrecked on an island and his dependence on Friday, who his black companion through this work.  One of his works The Master of Petersburg actually feature a real Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky as the main character.  One of his most unique writing is the novel The Lives of Animals, published in 1999. It combines fiction and non-fiction to bring out a discussion on the underling idea of how man relates to animals primarily focusing on the subject of cruelty to animals.  The Novel In Disgrace published in 1999, is a riveting story that delves into the mind of the protagonist David Lurie, who is a twice divorced academic as he deals with the standards imposed by society on fulfilling his desires.  In his 2003 novel Elizabeth Costello, the author discusses a wide range of topics, in detail. Many questions are asked about them and the readers will find that this aspectis the key feature of the novel while its story largely lies in ambiguity.  One interesting point to note about Coetzee is that he was given so many awards throughout his career, but he is known for not attending award ceremonies.  In both 1983 and 1991 he won the Booker Prize Award.  André Brink, Breyten Breytenbach along with Coetzee, according to Fred Pfeil, were the leaders of theanti-apartheid movement inside the circle of Afrikaner literature and letters.  It is to be noted that there was no particular political ideology that Coetzeespecifiedthough he brought out various political ideas in his many works.  Coetzeehas openly criticized on the cruel treatment of animals and is a strong animal rights advocate . 7.4 KEYWORDS  J. M. Coetzee: A South African-born novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature.  Author: The creator or originator of any written work such as a book or play.  Postcolonial: Occurring or existing after the end of colonial rule. 174 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 South Africa: Officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa.  Novel: A fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism. 7.5 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Let the class discuss atrocities on animals. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. Have a discussion on the history of apartheid. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. Give a brief outline of In the Heart of the Country. 2. For which works and when did Coetzee receive the Booker Prize? 3. What are Coetzee’s ideologies regarding the treatment of animals? 4. What is “Strong Opinions” in Diary of a Bad Year? 5. What are the themes in Slow Man? Long Questions 1. Write a short note on Coetzee’s first novel. 2. How has Coetzee’s early life helped shape his writing career? 3. What is Coetzee’s political inclination? 4. What does Coetzee believe in terms of the protection of animals? 5. Give a brief understanding of the novel Waiting for the Barbarians. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which of Coetzee’s novels is actually two short novellas that share a common theme? a. Elizabeth Costello b. Foe c. Dusklands d. Slow Man 2. Which of Coetzee’s works features Fyodor Dostoyevsky as its protagonist? 175 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

a. The Lives of Animals b. Slow Man c. The Master of Petersburg d. Age of Iron 3. Which of Coetzee’s works is devoted to the holidays he had spent as a child? a. Boyhood b. The Childhood of Jesus c. Dusklands d. Life and Times of Michael K 4. Coetzee criticised contemporary anti-terrorism laws a. As Resembling Those of South Africa's Apartheid Regime b. As They Gave Little Literary Rights c. As Resembling Colonial Laws d. None of these 5. Which of Coetzee’s novels allegorises South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission? a. Disgrace b. Dusklands c. The Master of Petersburg d. Life and Times of Michael K Answers 1-(c), 2-(c), 3-(a), 4-(a), 5-(a) 7.7 REFERENCES Textbooks  Harode, R. (2012). Postcolonial Chaos in V.S. Naipaul's The Mimic Men, IRWLE, Vol.8, No.1.pp. 1-8. Web.  Hall, S. (1989). Ethnicity: Identity and Difference, Radical America, Vol. 23, No,4. Pp. 9-20. Web.  Gyssels, K.(2001).The World Wide Web and Rhizomatic Identity: Traite du tout monde be Edward Glissant, MONTS PLURIELS, No. 18.  Fanon, F. (1963).The Wretched of The Earth. Trans Constance Farrington. New York: Grove Press. Print. References 176 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Burns, L. (2009) Becoming-postcolonial, becoming-Caribbean: Édouard Glissant and the poetics, University of Glasgow. C.  Bader, R. (2008).VS Naipaul: homelessness and exiled identity. Diss. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University, pp. 24-26.  Adas, M. (1998). Imperialism and Colonialism in Comparative Perspective, The International History Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 371-388.  Ashcroft, B. Gareth G, and Helen, T.(1989).The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Postcolonial Literatures, London: Routledge. Print. Websites  https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2003/coetzee/bibliography/  http://web.cocc.edu/  https://www.researchgate.net/ 177 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT-8 J. M. COETZEE: DISGRACE Structure 8.0 Learning Objectives 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Plot Summary and Analysis 8.3 Major Themes 8.4 Character Analysis 8.5 Critical Appreciation of the Novel 8.6 Summary 8.7 Keywords 8.8 Learning Activity 8.9 Unit End Questions 8.10 References 8.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, student will be able to:  Explain context of the novel.  Describe the various literary devices used in the novel.  Critically evaluate the novel. 8.1 INTRODUCTION The novel ‘Disgrace; was written by the South African author J.M.Coetzee and it got published in 1999.Immediately after it came out, the novel received both popular and critical acclaim. Coetzee was also conferred with an unprecedented second booker prize. This was a second prestigious feather in his cap. He first got Booker prize in 1983 for his novel, Life and Times of Michael K. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 2003 for his body of work. Out of all his work, Disgrace remains a highly regarded novel. It was also recently adapted into a movie that starred John Malkovich. The novel revolves around the life of David Lurie who is a professor in Cape Town (South Africa) and finds himself in the middle of a scandal when he has an affair with one of his students. He escapes to Eastern Cape to 178 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

live with his daughter and to evade horror of his misconduct. This escape introduces him to an entirely different world. Eastern Cape as a region is recovering from the ill effects of apartheid which came to an end recently. (For more information on Apartheid, see our \"Setting\" section). Hoping to run from his disgrace, an unfortunate incident drives the father – daughter du into the lowest depths of suffering and disgrace. Like his earlier novels, Coetzee’s ‘Disgrace’ also reveals trouble relationships between his characters and their homeland. Coetzee portrays the horrors in South Africa during apartheid in his earlier novels – Life and Times of Michael K, Waiting for the Barbarians and Age of Iron. Unlike the afore mentioned novels, Disgrace is set in post-apartheid South Africa, nevertheless, it shows how the violent memory of the past haunts the present and impacts the actions, relationships and attitudes of the main characters. It is noteworthy that Coetzee himself left South Africa for Australia in 2002.He became an Australian citizen in 2006 and continues to live and write there. His major works of fiction since then, Elizabeth Costello, Slow Man, and Diary of a Bad Year, have taken place in Australia, though his most recent work, a fictionalized memoir called Summertime (2009), largely takes place back in South Africa. Coetzee’s work gives a peep into his own background and his mixed feelings about his homeland. Disgrace was the last of his work that got published before he left South Africa. It gives us an image of the difficult life in South Africa and also evokes sympathy and fear more on a universal level. Context Historical Context Disgrace offers a particular point of view that is historically and literarily distinct. As the story focuses deeply on the topics of both history and justice, some familiarity with the history of South Africa, will help the readers to appreciate the various nuances better. It is set shortly after the end of apartheid, the period of legally enforced segregation that endured in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Most of the novel's action takes place in the South African city of Cape Town and in the rural Eastern Cape near Grahams town. Early Colonialism in South Africa Since the beginning of colonisation by Europeans in early 17th century, society in South Africa has been grappling with issues like oppression, stratification, conflict and diversity in race. Because of its strategic location along the sea route from Europe to Asia, the lands of the Cape's indigenous population were occupied by settlers and merchants from the Netherlands and other European countries as well as by slaves from other parts of Africa and Asia. Colonialism and the Eastern Cape Lucy Lurie’s home base is set up in the Eastern Cape region which began to get colonised in the later part of the 18th century. Both the foreign settlers including Dutch settlers called 179 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Afrikaners and the native tribes speaking Xhosa waged many wars to conquer land parcels. While Xhosa lost their land parcels and political autonomy in these wars, they still maintained their culture by adapting well to circumstances. The British and Afrikaners maintained their desperate cultures by not intermixing. Both groups also sought to exploit the labour of black Africans while maintaining social separation from them. The Afrikaners created republics (also called states), called the Boer Republics, as a form of self-governed regions. Britain began setting up provinces in this region. Even after losing their land and political autonomy, Xhosa retained their culture by incorporating new ways into it. The British in mid-19th century started a program to provide employment for Xhosas in order to get them civilised. Diamonds and Development The discovery of large deposits of diamonds, in South Africa led to segregation in industrial and social systems. Followed by the Black Africans being subjected to deadly conditions in the mines. All for creating profits for the European companies. South African Colonialism in the Early 20th Century After ousting the last Afrikaner government at the turn of the 20th century, British established total control over South Africa. British united and administered the various republics as Union of South Africa In the first decade of 20thcentury, British did not let the black Africans to participate in politics. While majority of the black Africans lost their land parcels, a minority worked as poor farmers on government allocated land. White foreign missionaries through their efforts percolated Christianity converting majority of black Africans. As these missionaries also ran schools, they helped in some way in educating the blacks. The educated groups passing of these schools formed the middle-class strata in Africa which in turn formed the African National Congress in 1912.This organisation worked towards safeguarding the interests of the subjugated races from the whites. The Apartheid Era Till the Afrikaner National Party came to power in 1948, British retained their hold on South Africa. Even after the formation of the National party, South Africa was not declared an independent republic until 1961.The new government still followed white supremacy and introduced apartheid – distinction basis race. The following four principles provided the guiding framework for the laws related to apartheid:  South Africans were classified into one of four races: white, coloured, African, and Indian.  Only whites could have political power. 180 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 The government worked only for the white race's interests.  The population was divided into \"nations.\" The largest was the white nation, which included speakers of both Afrikaans and English. The other races were divided into as many as 10 nations. While in the decades that followed, the white South Africans became more and more prosperous, the black South Africans became more oppressed at the hands of the government. By 1950 laws were passed making it illegal for members of different races to have sexual relations or marry. In light of such legislation, the interracial sexual acts in Disgrace take on additional meaning. The End of Apartheid The erosion of apartheid began in the 1980s. With the Constitution of 1984, non-whites began to be explicitly included in the political process. In the late 1980s the relaxation in enforcement of some apartheid laws led to lessening of oppression. This led to racial violence and domestic conflict which caused the other nations to put pressure on South Africa to bring about apartheid related reforms. In the year 1994, along with a new non-racial constitution, there emerged a new leader in the form of Nelson Mandela (1918- 2013) who was black and a member of the African Nationalist Movement. He replaced a white Afrikaner to become the president of South Africa and was also imprisoned for in the early days for his activism against apartheid. \\ The TRC (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission) was constituted the following year to fairly investigate the human rights violations committed during the apartheid period. This marked the establishment of a robust legal framework in South Africa though the remnants of apartheid like inequality, racial discrimination and crime still remained. Literary Context Disgrace can be touted as post-apartheid, post-colonial novel written by a white author. This classification emphasises the complex perspectives and techniques utilised but he author. It is noteworthy that Coetzee’s previous works were primarily allegorical; making Disgrace is first attempt at representing realism. Even though the novel depicts realism, there still exists a symbol system that is interpreted as an allegory for the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Committee) – an organisation bringing apartheid related human rights violations to justice.. Postmodernism and Disgrace The postmodernism era has been characterised with multiple disciplines including literature and a disconnection from reality.. French sociologist Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) claims that in post modernity we encounter the real, external world only after it has been filtered through our virtual or mental conceptions. The focus on internal interpretations over the external reality is evident in Disgrace as the protagonist filters his understanding of reality 181 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

through literary concepts and romantic archetypes that he upholds above all. Thus, making him susceptible to arrogance, immorality and delusion. Literature in Postmodern era utilises strategies like ‘intertextuality’ which is a belief that literary work derives its meaning in two ways.- through the relationship among words and also through the relationship of text to the other works of literature. By this reasoning, Disgrace can be classified as a novel that is strongly intertextual. For example, it engages significantly with the works of Romantic poets William Wordsworth (1770–1850) and George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824). One’s understanding of works by these authors helps in clarifying the significance and meaning of the plot, theme and characterization of the novel. Postcolonial Fiction by a White Author This category of fiction examines the effects of colonialism on society post the end of colonial rule. The genre takes for granted that colonialism's effects continue to direct and shape individuals and society. These postcolonial authors lay primary focus on giving expression to the perspectives of the oppressed section of the society who bore the negative effects of colonialism. In this regard, Disgrace is different. J.M. Coetzee is white and, therefore, of the race of the colonizers rather than the colonized. The protagonist and the most developed characters in Disgrace are also white. Disgrace looks at the transitions in the post-colonial social order from a white perspective. These transitions no more assume white supremacy. The white characters in the novel – Lucie Lurie, David Lurie and Bev Shaw are shown adapting to these transitions. One aspect highlighted is the postcolonial struggle of whites in accepting the new social dynamics which have rendered them redundant, indebted or even dependent on others. Apartheid and Post-apartheid Literature Apartheid also impacted the literary culture in South Africa making censorship rampant and authors were encouraged to come up with literature that expresses realism in the society along with a pronational messaging. The literature produced in South Africa after 1994 in the post-apartheid era was characterised by features clearly showing the authors reacting to the dynamism in culture. This genre also focussed on women and racial perspectives in South Africa post-apartheid. Apart from this, there is also a strong focus on themes of conflict, romance, the perspective of whites, and the relationship between truth, justice, confession, and reconciliation. Al these issues feature prominently in Disgrace. Instances like Lucy getting raped , not reporting the incident and then joining hands with Petrus and giving away her land to him point towards the dynamism in the social order post-apartheid. Lucy has the awareness that at this juncture she needs to be humble and should give back what her race had taken. She 182 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

accepts this new situation with dignity. On the other hand, her father, of an older generation, cannot understand what is happening and clings to his old ideas of justice. Wordsworth and Byron in Disgrace Intertextuality is shown in Disgrace primarily by way of dialogue with the ideas, works and lives of English romantic poets – Lord Byron and William Wordsworth. The main character in the novel, David Lurie looks at himself as Wordsworth’s disciple. He uses Wordsworth’s philosophy as the guiding framework for his life. Wordsworth expressed his beliefs in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800), an essay preceding a collection he wrote jointly with poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the Preface Wordsworth stated that poetry should take the raw materials of everyday life and elevate them by throwing \"over them a certain colouring of the imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way ... and make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them ... the primary laws of our nature.\" Wordsworth in all his poetry evoked grace as a concept. The Wordsworthian grace is moral as well as artistic. As opposed to the state of disgrace experienced by David Lurie who valued grace a lot. Another major presence in the novel is that of George Gordon, Lord Byron who was a contemporary of Wordsworth. The character of David Laurie has many commonalities with that of Byron as recorded in history. As noted in the novel, both David and Byron share an affinity toward passion and in particular sexual passion. Like the exile David went though, Byron also escaped to Greece following a scandal that led to his disgrace as a celebrity. While Wordsworthian grace is David Lurie's ideal, Byronic scandal and disgrace is his reality. When Lucy Lurie teasingly calls David \"mad, bad, and dangerous to know,\" she is quoting the words used by Byron's lover Caroline Lamb to describe the poet. The two poetic heroes that David revered wrote epics that went against tradition by placing themselves as protagonists rather than depicting any mythical or historical figures. David himself vies his character as misunderstood and not in sync with his times due to his attempt to reinstate artistic, intellectual and passionate ways of living. The reader, however, might be encouraged by Coetzee to read Lurie as Byron's Lucifer character, as suggested by the lecture Lurie gives on Byron's poem Lara in chapter 4. 8.2 PLOT SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS In a nutshell David Lurie is a Communications professor at Cape Town Technical University Divorced twice with one child, David spends ninety minute every Thursday with Soraya – a prostitute. He crosses the line by contacting Soraya at her home and also by turning to one of her students to fulfil his selfish desires. David first spots Melanie in the University garden and approaches her for wine and dinner. The same evening, he tries to seduce her. Melanie 183 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

realises that it’s a trap when David quotes some lines from Shakespeare that are clichéd and make his intentions clear to her. Once she realises his deceit, she leaves immediately. David does not stop her and through university records gains access to her address and contact details. Using which he calls her and meets her for lunch. After lunch, both have sex at his house .During the entire act, Melanie is passive while David achieves satisfaction and falls asleep on top of her. In the following days, David spies on Melanie and arrives at her flat and again has sex with her. Melanie does not resist him and asks him to leave as soon as he is done since she was expecting a visit from her cousin. She misses her midterm exams scheduled the next day and arrives at David’s doorstep asking for shelter. Soon after that her boyfriend confronts David and things start going out of control to the extent that Melanie files a sexual harassment case against David.The investigation of the case is done by a committee comprising of his colleagues. Melanie’s testimony is recorded and there is press exposure. David also gets an opportunity to feign remorse and to look for treatment. However, he refuses to do so and is eventually fired from his job. His only comment to the press is that he was \"enriched\" by the experience. After becoming a social outcast, David goes to Salem to meet with his daughter Lucy. While his initial days there are low in activity, he soon gets preoccupied with the animal shelter and starts helping Petrus. Although, both parents of Lucy are professionals, she takes up farming as her occupation. The peaceful life in the country does not exist for long. As one day when Lucy and David take the dogs for a walk, they are confronted by a group of three Africans who on the pretext of using their phone attack them. Lucy not understanding their ruse puts the dogs in the kennel. The Africans take Lucy into the house and lock the door to keep David away. When he tries to enter through the kitchen door, he is burnt by the assailants. Lucy is raped by the three men in the back room. They also ransack the house, shoot the dogs and steal Lucy’s car. After they leave, Lucy approaches the neighbours for help and takes her father to the hospital. David is treated for burns. That night they stay with the Shaws and the next day they return to the farm to assess the damage and busy the dead dogs (only one is alive).Lucy reports the robbery and the attack on her father but not her rape. Lucy becomes depressed after the attack and spends most of her time in bed. Due to which David has to manage the responsibilities around the house and the farm. He is occupied the whole day. David tries to broach the incident with Lucy many a times, but she refuses to talk about it. She is angry that the culprits are roaming scot free and also that they might attack again. David on the other hand feels that the incident does not seem like only a robbery and finds it suspicious that Petrus the farmhand left the farm just before the incident and when he returned, he had new clothes and supplies to build a new house for himself. He believes that Petrus intentionally left the farm unguarded to facilitate the robbery. One day when Petrus invites Lucy and David to his house to celebrate his purchase of a new plot of land, Lucy comes face to face with one of her attackers. He was a mentally unstable man called Pullox, who was also related to Petrus’s wife. On learning about Pollux’s identity, David 184 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

immediately wants to inform the police, but Lucy refuses and goes back home. In the coming days, David gets more and busier with the animal shelter and also has a brief affair with the owner of the shelter – Bev. He realises the main purpose of his work at the shelter when he is asked to dispose the body of a dog that has been administered with a lethal injection. This incident impacts his mind in ways unknown to him till one day he parks his car on the roadside and cries. In the interim, Petrus is busy with ploughing his land and remodelling his house. On his family front, his wife is expecting, and Pollux has shifted in with them. David becomes worried for Lucy’s future and asks her to move. He believes that it is her only choice given that the farm is not safe for her and Petrus also cannot be trusted anymore. He suggests that she moves to Holland to stay with her biological mother, and he offers to give her the money he has got by selling off his house. But Lucy does not accept the suggestion and wants to continue staying in Salem. Marking a breaking point in their father-daughter relationship, she writes him a note saying, \"I cannot be a child for ever. You cannot be a father forever. I know you mean well, but you are not the guide I need, not at this time (161).\" So, David returns to Cape Town on his way he drops in to meet Mr. Isaac in George. Since he is not home, David is greeted by Mr. Isaac’s daughter – Desiree Isaac. David gets uncomfortable as Desiree is an attractive girl and he leaves Mr. Isaac’s house to meet him in the office. Mr. Isaac is the principal of a middle school. David tries to explain his circumstances to Mr Isaac. But Mr. Isaac does not understand David very clearly and invites David for dinner to his house. During dinner they talk, and David apologises to Mr. Isaac. On reaching his house in Cape Town, he discovers that his place has been robbed and vandalised. Also, in his office his replacement has already been hired. To move on, David tries to work on his opera on Byron but comes to a dead end. He realises that he has become an outcast. His ex-wife Rosalind informs him about Melanie’s whereabouts, and he goes to see her perform in a play. In the theatre he meets Melanie’s boyfriend who tells him to stay away. David keeps in touch with his daughter Lucy over phone. But has a feeling that she is hiding something from him. When Bev also does not give a clear picture, he decides to visit his daughter. On reaching Salem he finds out that Lucy is pregnant because of the rape and has decided to keep the child. He I in shock and wants to help her to escape. But she refuses and plans to remain in Salem. Her future plan is to give away her land to Petrus in return for (contractual) marriage so that she can continue staying in the house. David is helpless and he decides to rent a room in Grahmstown so that he can help his daughter at the market every week and rest of the days he disposes off the dead bodies of dogs at the animal shelter. Chapter-wise Analysis Analysis of Chapters 1-4 David Lurie’s language, perception and thoughts dominate the narrative of Disgrace even though the novel is written in third person. The essence of every character reaches the reader 185 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

after it is filtered through David’s perspective. Still, this makes isolation evident in David’s internal character rather than intimacy. This becomes even more highlighted in his relationships with women when the initial chapters of the novel introduce the reader to two of David’s lovers – Melanie and Soraya. Both these women differ in terms of their backgrounds but share a commonality in terms of being associated with David and his inability to form a bond with them. David’s relationship with the prostitute Soraya is based on money. The novel opens, \"For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well (1).\" David’s solutions to all his problems seems very straight forward on the surface but as he describes his relationships in more depth, we realise that his relationships are straightforward because he does not let them get complicated. David keeps all his relationships superficial. For instance, he does not know most of things about Soraya’s background like her being a Muslim woman, her age, her family details and even her real name. This lack of awareness makes it impossible for him to see the contradiction between Soraya’s profession and her hatred for beggars and nude beaches. In addition, David also does not fight against the injustice met to Soraya at Discreet Escorts. While he pays Soraya directly without involving Discreet Escorts, he does not like the possibility of meeting her again in the next morning. David’s relationship with Soraya makes his disregard for law and ethics very visible. This further explains his uncouth behaviour involving one of his students where he formed a selfish sexual relationship against the code of conduct. Coetzee illustrates David’s pursuit of Melanie as predatory. His first sighting of her is in the college garden which is a symbol of love, fertility and desire. Also, a place where Eve ate the forbidden apple, as mentioned in the Bible. At every step, David’s advances were inappropriate as they did not even share any interests. There are many instances like during the Norman McLaren movie and even during sex when David chooses to ignore Melanie’s repulsion towards him For instance, when Lurie forces himself on her at her cousin's house, Lurie notices, \"She does not resist. All she does is avert herself: avert her lips, avert her eyes...Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nevertheless, undesired to the core (25).\" Lurie thus equivocally justifies his action with slippery language. Melanie does not \"resist\" but rather \"averts\"; the act is not \"rape\" but \"undesired to the core.\" He defines his act with his own language, never calling it what it is: rape. Lurie (and the reader along with him) is locked in his own utterly selfish hermeneutic of desire. Analysis of Chapters 5-6 The chapters that give details on the sexual harassment investigation point at the underlying motive of the process. Which seemed to be more to shame the accused rather than to bring about justice? Moreover, similarities can be seen between the sexual harassment investigations conducted by the university and the hearings at the Truth and Reconciliation 186 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Commission. The investigation committee layers the trial procedure by conducting it in a different language and denies that they are running a trial. This claim is denied both by David and the author .David refuses to participate as he understands that conducting the trial in a different language is a ruse. Even though David does not understand the language, he is able to make out that the committee is seeking a confession from him. His approach culminates when he says: “What goes on in my mind is my business, not yours, Farodia. Frankly, what you want from me is not a response but a confession. Well, I make no confession. I put forward a plea. As is my right. Guilty as charged. That is my plea. That is as far as I am willing to go.” (51). David refuses to get trapped into confessing to the inappropriateness of his desires and avoids any misstep that can cause his public shaming. This understanding of the trial procedure does not help David in absolving himself of the disgrace attached to his misconduct even though the committee gives him a chance to confess. The most important perspective is that the disgrace does not translate into his innocence. It is very clear that he manipulated Melanie for his selfish objectives. He very clearly is a rapist even though he understands the committee’s tactics to get a confession from him is denial to fall into the committee’s trap does not absolve him of the guilt and shame because of his crime. That he isn't emphasizes his hubristic, cavalier attitude toward the world as much as his cultural insight. On a second level, Lurie's trial alludes allegorically to events in South African history. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee formed in 1945 used to have a third of the hearings in public to bring the apartheid related atrocities to justice. A number of witnesses came forward to testify. As a parallel, David’s trial was a result of his haughty behaviour when he used exploited Melanie like the whites did to the blacks during apartheid. Like the whites, he also refused to apologise even after he was fired. Similar to the TRC uprooting apartheid. Analysis of Chapters 7-10 Through the narrative in the initial chapters of David’s stay in Salem, Coetzee brings to life the rural landscape and the main characters viz. Lucy, Petrus and Bev Shaw. One of the rare relationships that David is able to sustain is that with his daughter. He looks up to this relationship to seek solace from the disgrace of the scandal. Also, Lucy herself does not judge him for his misconduct. She says to her father about the affair, \"Well you have paid your price. Perhaps looking back, she won't think too harshly of you. Women can be surprisingly forgiving (69).\" Like a good daughter, Lucy is nurturing towards David and offers him both food as well as space to express his opinions in a safe environment. David and Lucy are different in many aspects. He says, \"Curious that he and her mother, city folk, intellectuals, should have produced this throwback, this sturdy young settler. But perhaps it was not they who produced her: perhaps history had the larger share (61).\" As per David’s perspective, Lucy is difficult to understand but even then, they live together in harmony in 187 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

the current circumstances. Petrus aged between forty – forty-five works as Lucy’s assistant. He tends to the garden and the dogs. When Petrus first introduces himself, he says \"I look after the dogs and I work in the garden. Yes. I am the gardener and the dog-man.\" Reflecting on his own words, Petrus repeats \"dog-man (64).\" While interacting with Lucy Petrus is aware of his status and avoids any mention of his family background. Rather he wants to be identified only by his work. Lucy also does not probe Petrus for information regarding his family. This explains the distant relationship that Lucy and Petrus share from the very beginning. Like David does with Soraya, Lucy also does not try to understand Petrus as a person and accepts Petrus’s servile position. As soon as David enters the country, he experiences a connect with animal. Beginning with his growing attachment to the abandoned bulldog Katy. The dog is in a depressed state. Despite this, David feels a connection with the dog. David is sympathetic towards animals and feels anger for people who abandon them. When Lurie first sees Bev Shaw, he says, “He has nothing against animal lovers with whom Lucy has been mixed up as long as he can remember. The world would no doubt be a worse place without them. So, when Bev Shaw opens her front door he puts on a good face, though in fact he is repelled by the odours of cat urine and dog mange and Jeyes Fluid that greets them.” (72). As David’s interactions with Ben increase, he is able to overcome his repulsion of her. And eventually starts seeing appreciating, Bev’s contribution towards the society as a giver of hope to animals. Analysis of Chapters 11-13 This section begins with a pleasant morning when father and daughter duo are watching the geese. Soon after, they are attacked. The attack turns out to be very violent. David tries to be heroic, and kicks open the kitchen door to save his daughter but is unable to do so as the assailants overpower him and set him on fire. He becomes powerless even to help himself. Moreover, the dogs are also killed so that they cannot save Lucy and David. The attack has a profound impact on the relationship between Lucy and her father apart from affecting their bodies. The natures of their sufferings separate them. Lucy instructs her father, \"You tell what happened to you, I tell what happened to me (99),\" thus suggesting that they are not one in their misfortune. The crimes associated them are different but are very personal. And each of them must face the consequences on his/ her own. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Lucy becomes very fearsome, to the extent that she does not even want to sleep alone in her room and also despises the freezer room. The reason for this reaction was that Lucy’s room was where the rape happened, and the freezer was used to store food for the dogs which were dead now. Despite being in a state of fear, Lucy 188 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

does not want to escape. When David disagrees with her plan to go back to the farm, she says, \"It was never safe, and it's not an idea, good or bad, I'm not going back for the sake of an idea. I'm just going back (105).\" Lucy’s decision to not report her rape holds a lot of importance. She wants to guard her privacy in the same manner that David adopted during his trial. Lucy was aware of the cultural backdrop of the crime and is also aware of the potential of the judiciary system in South Africa. Thus, she does not have unrealistic expectation of justice. She also realises that justice can never truly be balanced. Similar to the pursuit of a confession in David’s trail, in this incident also no testimony or justification will be adequate. In this sense, the father- daughter duo shares a cynical awareness of the judiciary. The difference lies in their positions via s vis the crimes. While David was the miscreant, Lucy was the victim. Due to this difference, it is natural that the distance between David and Lucy becomes more and more with time. Lucy's recognizes their failure to understand one another truly when she says, “No, you keep misreading me. Guilt and salvation are abstractions. I don't act in terms of abstractions. Until you make the effort to see that I can't help you (112).\" Lucy’s concern is to remain in the present and live on her land, near her hose and her kennel. In contrast, David has no such ties to a physical location and anchors himself by way of his thoughts. Analysis of Chapters 14-15 Having returned to the farm, Lurie quickly gets to the business of protection. Lucy's neighbour, Ettinger, offers to loan them a gun. As Lurie repairs the kitchen door, he considers other options. He says, \"They ought to turn the farmhouse into a fortress. Lucy ought to buy a pistol and a two-way radio and take shooting lessons. But will she ever consent? She is here because she loves the land and the old landliche way of life. If that way of life is doomed, what is left for her to love (113).\" Both David and Lucy realise that being white South Africans, they are constantly under threat and even guns, fences and dogs cannot protect them from the threat of violence looming large. David wants to understand Petrus’s role in the incident and started looking for clues so that he can piece to gather the bigger picture and gain clarity. But his search for truth becomes more and more complicated as he treads ahead. He does not believe that Petrus was just seeking vengeance because he was being treated in a servile manner. But there could be more complicated reasons. He realises that the crime is connected to the history of South Africa’s culture and cannot be labelled as simple in any manner. He conducts systematic surveys to understand the underlying facets and sees himself as an anthropologist. But when confronting Petrus, David behaves more like a lawyer rather than an anthropologist and he loses his objectivity. He says, \"I find it hard to believe the reason [the robbers] picked on us was simply that we were the first white folk they met that day. What do you think? Am I wrong? (119).\" David gets confrontational during his conversation with Petrus while the latter 189 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

maintains a calm exterior and keeps smoking a pipe. In theory, David realises the importance of maintaining a cool distance to gain fair understanding of the motives behind the crime by in practice, he is unable to do so. This creates dissonance within himself. The occurrence repeats itself during Petrus’s party as well. When he pays no heed to Lucy’s concern that calling the police will disrupt the happy occasion for Petrus. Overall, these chapters show the delicate balance between historical perspective and personal outrage. The author does not give clarity on which is the better approach, he only presents the dilemma. Approaches taken by each of the characters is difference and each of them sees the other’s position as well which makes the picture very poignant. Analysis of Chapters 16-20 In the aftermath of the robbery, David makes many attempts to speak to her daughter about the incident but there is no response from her. This is a big step for him as it is one of the rare occasions in his life that he has tried to reach out to someone else over and above his selfish existence. Though David was pushed back by Soraya, he really felt the pinch after he was made an outcast following the scandal involving Melanie. He is unable to heal himself of this ostracism as the issue involves many other aspects like that of gender, race, status which cannot be made to disappear. For example, Lucy does not want to talk about her suffering because she feels David will not understand the horror of it being a man. This is something that David cannot solve for and this impotence makes him angry.When Lucy finally does speak about the rape to her father, the historical import of the act comes clearly to the surface. She says: “It was so personal. It was done with such personal hatred. That was what stunned me more than anything. The rest was...expected. But why did they hate me so? I had never set eyes on them.” Lurie Replies “It was history speaking through them...A history of wrong. Think of it that way if it helps. It may have seemed personal, but it wasn't. It came down from the ancestors.” Even though David draws parallels between the attack on his daughter and the historical oppression of the black South Africans, Lucy maintains distance from him. She sees David as a rapist who has a dark past with Soraya and Melanoe, this realisation of his gender and misconducts stands between them. The attack removes any sympathy that she might have had for David earlier when he was in exile. She sees him as part of a big socio historical injustice – misogyny, not apartheid. David deals with the complexity of these overwhelming questions by sympathising with animals. He wants to replace the shame and grief of the rapes of Melanie and Lucy with the affection that he feels for the dogs that he helps dispose of once they are no more.David’s transition to a career involving animals has deep connection with 190 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

his identity. During their first meeting, Petrus introduces himself to David as the \"dog-man.\" Lurie now reflects, \"A dog-man, Petrus once called himself. Well, now he has become a dog- man: a dog undertaker; a dog psycho pomp; a harijan (146).\"The author by means of this shared description displays how the positions of David and Petrus have got interchanged. Earlier, Petrus worked as Lucy’s assistant and worked hard to take care of the farm and the dogs. He had two families, but he still lived on Lucy’s farm. With the change in positions, Petrus no longer is the servant. He says at his party, \"No more dogs. I am not any more the dog-man (129).\" Lurie, instead, is the dogman. The exchange is captured also in Petrus and Lurie's cooperation in laying the pipes. During this activity, Petrus thinks of David as a child/amateur who does not know how to use the tools. And who can only hand over the tools to the expert, in this case Petrus was the expert. In an overall sense, David has handed over his tools to Petrus in many ways. David’s tools like his gender, education and status that he used to deploy to manipulate others have now become useless. While Petrus’s tools comprising of his black lineage, his labour and skill, his status as a black African have become more powerful. So much so that he deploys them to establish his ownership on land and acquiring a home. On the other hand, David does not have a home and his earlier house is also robbed. This exchange of positions reflects the historical exchange of power from white South Africans to black South Africans. In the end, Lurie accepts the job that Petrus is now too good for, that of honourably disposing of dogs' bodies. His other tools are no good. As he says: \"There are other people to do these things – the animal welfare thing, the social rehabilitation thing, even the Byron thing. He saves the honour of corpses because there is no one else stupid enough to do it (146).\" Analysis of Chapters 21-24 In the last few chapters, the author depicts the way David becomes an outcast. Even after he returns to civilization in Cape Town, he realises that he has been displaced as he finds his home vandalised. His replacement, Dr. Otto is already occupying his office. He is even made to feel unwelcome by other people like his chance meeting with Elaine Winter. The start of David’s alienation has roots in the way he treats women. When Rosalind invites David for dinner, he says, \"His best memories of her are still of their first months together: steamy summer nights in Durban, sheets damp with perspiration, Rosalind's long, pale body thrashing this way and that in the throes of a pleasure that was hard to tell from pain\" (187). Even though they share a bond during the duration of their marriage, and she has always been supportive of him even after their divorce, his first thought on seeing her is of sex. His emphasis on sexuality is devoid of intimacy. David gets annoyed at her questions. He says, \"Her questions are intrusive, but Rosalind has never had qualms about being intrusive. ’You shared my bed for ten years,' she once said-'Why should you have secrets from me?'\" (189). 191 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Similarly, Lurie greets Bev with the following: \"He arrives at the clinic just as Bev Shaw is leaving. They embrace, tentative as strangers. Hard to believe they once lay naked in each other's arms (209).\" Immediately after leaving from the play in which Melanie is acting, David finds a young prostitute who is incoherent due to drugs .After he is done with her , he feels satisfied and reflects that \"So this is all that it takes! How could I have ever forgotten it?\" (194). David comes a full circle from the beginning of the novel in terms of paying for sex. But unlike the time with Soraya, this time he has no delusions of familiarity. Even though David has no relationship with women who can be called sustainable, the narratives about these give the reader some narrative relief. The perspectives of these women give a clear picture about David that is not shrouded with self delusionment. For example, after David mentions his convoluted reasoning for his affair Rosalind says, \"That sounds very grand. But you were always a great self-deceiver, David. A great deceiver and a great self- deceiver. Are you sure it wasn't just a case of being caught with your pants down?\" (188) In this manner, the reader can get a better view of the alternate perspectives as far as events related to David are concerned. Lucy similarly characterizes Lurie, saying, \"You behave as if everything I do is part of the story of your life. You are the main character; I am a minor character who doesn't make an appearance until halfway through. Well, contrary to what you think, people are not divided into major and minor. I am not a minor. I have a life of my own, just as important to me as yours is to you, and in my life, I am the one who makes the decisions\" (198). In conclusion, by the end of the novel we get a clear sense of David’s self- cantered approach towards life. But ironically, this selfishness only leads him to his disgrace. Continuing with David’s delusions, there arises his delusions about his progeny. While throughout the narrative, he has only been concerned about sex and not fertility, by the end of the narrative, progeny occupies centre stage in his mind. In fact, David summarises the purpose of the investigation conducted by his university as follows: “That was what the trial a was set up to punish, once all the fine words were stripped away. On trial for his way of life. For unnatural acts: for broadcasting old seed, tired seed, seed that does not quicken, contra nature. If the old men hog the young women, what will be the future of the species?” (190). David worries about the end of his lineage. Post Lucy’s pregnancy, David’s lineage will be carried forward through violence, accident and hatred. He says, \"A father without the sense to have a son: is this how it is all going to end, is this how his line is going to run out, like water dribbling into the earth?\" (199). Neither Lurie's nor Lucy's hope for the future is positive. Lucy says to her father. [I]t is humiliating. But perhaps that is a good point to start from again. Perhaps this is what I must learn to accept. To start at ground level.With nothing. Not with nothing but. With nothing. No cards, no weapons, no property, no rights, no dignity. [Lurie replies] Like a dog. [And Lucy responds] Yes, like a dog (205). 192 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

From a critical perspective when allegorical lens is used to view the events, David’s pessimistic outlook of the future does not augur well for South Africa’s present. By answering violence with violence and hatred with hatred, the history will keep haunting the present. And the hatred will keep multiplying and there will not be any end to the violent crimes like rape and oppression. In this backdrop, two whites David and his daughter Lucy different in every manner, find solace only in their disgrace. David through his work with dogs finds a way to run away from his past crime. While Lucy, finds solace in becoming Petrus’s third wife in exchange for protection and shelter. Each of them carries the burden of his/her disgrace while resigning themselves to a life that gives them some small personal satisfaction in a nation marred by hatred. 8.3 MAJOR THEMES Animal Treatment The biggest transformation seen in the novel was that of David Lurie’s way of thinking in matters concerning animals. David’s initial reaction on meeting Bev Shaw, the owner of an animal shelter is that of repulsion arising out of his disdain for animal scents .Bev smelled of the animals that she takes care in her shelter. This made David reluctant to volunteer for the animal shelter. But his daughter persuaded him to give it a try. This experience makes him change his perspective towards animals. So much so that David Lurie who once believed that animals do not even possess a soul, felt sad when a couple of sheep are slaughtered to arrange food for a party organised by Petrus. This transformation is still more evident when at the end of the novel, David Lurie discovers that his purpose in life is not to be an advocate of animal rights or to compose an opera on Byron, but it is to dispose of dead bodies of dogs with utmost dignity. Fathers and Daughters From the outset, the father – daughter duo, David and Lucy have a very unique relationship dynamic. Though Lucy was exposed to academics through his family, when chose farming as her occupation. And earned her livelihood by selling flowers and vegetable along with providing shelter to dogs on her farm. They live contrasting life where on one hand Lucy, a white lesbian has made Salem (South Africa) her home. David lives in Cape Town and his livelihood is based on the ideas generated by him. After writing three books, David is working on an opera on Byron. Even though they have different life paths, they are tied together by a life changing tragedy. David was removed from his job as a professor due to his sexual misconduct with one of his students. And Lucy suffered the horror of being raped by three Africans. Race 193 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Post-apartheid South Africa is marred with violence and crimes. This is a result of outrage against the long past of oppression. Due to which rape has become more prevalent. The racial tensions are made more evident by J.M. Coetzee on David’s arrival into Salem where Lucy is one of the very few white farmers left behind in the region. Petrus, an African who is a farm help for Lucy though of subservient character is shown in the middle of conspiracy when he is implicated facilitating a robbery on Lucy’s farm. As an aftermath, he is not found on the farm when the three African robbers attack Lucy. She confronts Petrus at the end of the novel as Petrus returns to the farm to renovate his house just after the unfortunate incident with Lucy. The racial gap between Lucy and Petrus is shown diminishing unwillingly when Lucy gets pregnant with the child of one of her attackers. Rape The robbery on Lucy’s farms turns more violent when the three robbers rape her. Even though she does not know the attackers, the incident feels like a personal vendetta. Lucy realises the absence of justice in the society and does not report the incident to the authorities. This tragedy makes it very clear to Lucy that there is a distinction between men and women. And even though David is her father, being a man, he can never completely understand her plight. He can only be a silent bystander while she fights depression and trauma. Justice Justice is a parameter that helps define guilt and innocence. J.M.Coetzee explores this dimension from a moral perspective. David’s sexual misconduct with a student is tried within the justice system Geriatric Sexuality David at the age of 52 continued to be sexually active .Post his two marriages, he fulfils his needs by sleeping with prostitutes. The situation became bad when he crossed boundaries both on a professional and a generational perspective by sleeping with his student. He went against the professor- student code of conduct. His actions also ruined the reputation of the student who although was consenting, pressed charges after dropping out of the university. This led to David losing his job and the student’s boyfriend telling him to “stick to your kind”. Disgrace The word disgrace is best understood through its opposite, grace, of which there are various kinds. Spiritual or religious grace is a state of being in God's favour. The main characteristic of grace in an experiential/aesthetic for is the presence of ease and beauty. There also exists a social form of grace where disgrace means getting outcast from a group. 194 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The disgrace experienced by David Lurie takes a different form by causing deep transformations in his lifestyle and mellowing down of his temperament. From being a cynical, bristly, city-dwelling, academic womanizer with poetic delusions, David becomes a nearly homeless, banjo-picking, loving gatekeeper to the underworld for the infirm dogs of the Eastern Cape. The labelling of David’s situation as ‘disgraceful’ is first done by his ex-wife when she condemns his behaviour with Melanie Isaac. This happens just before David reads an article about his misconduct published in the Argus. He vies the narrative in the third person by thinking of himself as a “disgraced disciple of William Wordsworth.\" William Wordsworth often deals with grace as a topic in his work. For him grace epitomises a state of well-being that is both spiritual and artistic. In David’s’ case, this is missing due to which David feels that he has disappointed his ideal. In Chapter 13, a singsong chant plays in David's head: \"Oh dear, what can the matter be? Lucy's secret; his disgrace.\" While David’s personal disgrace does not demoralise him, he gets very affected by Lucy’s rape and more importantly by the fact that he was unable to protect her from the attack. Even though there is lot if similarity between him causing ‘disgrace’ by his misconduct with Melanie and Lucy’s secret i.e., her rape, David does not realise this at all. Shortly thereafter, David interprets Lucy's apathy about going to the farmers market as evidence that \"she would rather hide her face ... Because of the disgrace. Because of the shame. “Lucy never expresses shame on the rape. In fact, she goes through all the events consequent to the rape like resulting pregnancy and transfer of her land to Petrus with nothing but a lot of grace. This clearly shows that disgrace is a prerogative of the attacker not of the victim. David during a conversation with Bev confesses his misconduct to her. And asks her whether she would still want to keep him employed despite his dark past. Eventually he realises that what he did with Melanie was wrong. David reaches a state of grace through his work of providing dignity n death to the dogs. David views the loss of power by the animals while facing death as disgrace which is also the case for humans. By honouring the dignity of these dogs, David is atoning for the actions that put him into a state of disgrace. The Problem of Sex The narrative of the novel begins with this line “to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well.\" It becomes evident that David has actually not found a solution to his sex problems. In fact, sex is a complicated matter and if not handled properly, it can both mend and destroy lives. The novel’s narrative moves ahead with David’s attempts at finding ways to fulfil his sexual desires, his daughter Lucy also agrees with him on this by mentioning that it is “a burden we could well do without.\" The first solution that comes to David’s mind is to buy sex. His very first chapter of the novel gives a description of how satisfied David is with his relationship with the prostitute Soraya. 195 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

But this does not last long, after almost a year of seeing her, he spots her in a market with her sons. Soraya’s professionalism and her desire to protect her family means there can be no overlap between the two, so she cuts David off as a client. This leaves David with the problem of his unfulfilled sexual desire. Now that he can no longer buy sex, David resorts to snatching it by force and this is what he does with Melanie Isaac as she is weaker than him. This power equation has multiple aspects. He is white man, while she is a woman and a person of colour. He is middle-aged and experienced; she is basically an adolescent and unsure of herself. He is the professor, and she is his student. He is bigger and stronger; she is slight of stature. Once David understands all these aspects, he uses his advantages over her to engineer an affair. While he rationalises his actions, he does not realise the repercussions of his misconduct. Eventually the trauma Melanie goes through makes her unable to join back school and David on being found guilty is sacked from his job. Later, David tells Melanie's father, \"I am sunk into a state of disgrace from which it will not be easy to lift myself.\" Even after David loses his job, his problem of sex remains unresolved, and he keeps trying to find a solution that does not cause any harm. He comes to realise that his sexual desires are related to the reproductive drive which persists even after a man or a woman (as with Bev Shaw) has crossed the age when they are desirable. He concludes that Lucy’s rapist were neither motivated by vengeance nor by pleasure but by the \"testicles, sacs bulging with seed aching to perfect itself.\" When David at last sleeps with a prostitute again, he marvels at how easily the persistent need is satisfied with that small transaction. It is possible David is back where he started and the whole cycle of desire and suffering will repeat itself. Another view offered but Coetzee is that David’s life has been unfolding in aspects that will be more compelling than just the fulfilment of his sexual desires. He has his soon-to-be-born grandson, his discovery of a personally satisfying form of art, and his love for the dogs on the brink of death by euthanasia. Perhaps, the novel suggests, these will be enough. History's Debts and the New South Africa The narrative of the novel clearly shows that even after centuries marred by violence and racism, getting into a state where unity and progress can be achieved is not at all easy. In reality, it even demands sacrifice. The author lends life to the pastoral, tragicomic and dark vision of South Africa post-apartheid. In this form, though some of the old structures have got reversed for good, there is still violence, injustice and subjugation in daily life. As David Lurie notes while contemplating his daughter Lucy's homestead, \"The more things change the more they remain the same.\" For David, Lucy's position signifies \"history repeating itself, though in a more modest vein.\" The question is whether \"history has learned a lesson.\" 196 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The text suggests that history has not yet learned a lesson but may be in the process of doing so. As FarodiaRassool, As noted by David’s colleagues during the hearing of his sexual harassment charges, David answer tothe committee’s questions related to his sexual relationship with Melanie\"no mention of the long history of exploitation of which this is part.\" While post-apartheid laws prohibiting interracial sexual relations as well as marriage got repealed, as was the case with David raping Melanie, the long tradition of white males exploiting black females still continues. In the New South Africa, those who were at the very bottom during apartheid—namely, women and animals—remain at the bottom, to be exploited, used, and abused. In the novel there are clearly debts remaining from the country's history that must be paid. Coetzee narrates the investigation of David’s misconduct in a manner that functions as a critique of the TRC(Truth and Reconciliation Commission) hearings conducted between 19995 – 2002.Wherein the accused were promised amnesty for his crimes violating human rights in return for a confession. In a similar sense, David is asked for a confession in return for keeping his job at the university. By complying with the terms of the investigation committee, David could safeguard his job in return for making his misconduct public. But David refuses to comply and leaves his job. In due course he realises his misdoing and struggle with his guilt. As Melanie's father tells David after he apologizes, \"The question is not, are we sorry? ... The question is, what are we going to do now that we are sorry? “The repercussions that David experiences are so profound that they inculcate a sense of morality and feeling of service in him. The author further suggests that reconciling with one’s disgrace requires justice and payment in the form of a real change as opposed to just an apology or a confession. Lucy’s unfortunates face off with rape further reinforces the belief that justice requires payment. She herself was innocent but had to go through trauma due to the times in which she was living. She accepts with grace that history and politics have brought trauma and seismic change into her personal life. During a conversation when Lucy tells her father that she was shocked by the personal hatred with which the three attackers violated her, David responds that \"it was history speaking through them ... a history of wrong\" that \"came down from the ancestors\" into her life. Lucy comes to the realisation that peace can be achieved when sometimes even the innocent suffer and yet they forgive. In order to walk on this path, Lucy refuses to report her rape. As she tells David, \"In another time, in another place it might be held to be a public matter. But in this place, at this time, it is not.\" She explains her rationale to her outraged father: \"They see me as owing something. They see themselves as debt collectors, tax collectors.\" She accepts that she is, in part, paying for the wrongs of the past, asking rhetorically, \"Why should I be allowed to live here without paying?\" 197 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Lucy, more than any other character in the novel, is the embodiment of the way forward for South Africa to become a truly new nation. She in fact wants to keep the child that is the result of her rape. As well, she declares her desire to \"to be a good mother and a good person.\" In due course, those who were discriminated during aparthied need to start learning ways to co-exist. David sees the future of his daughter as per this lens. He sees his pregnant daughter as a flower that is blooming in Petrus’s backyard and could give birth to a beautiful future born from a violent past. This will only be possible in the country if the people, particularly the white section acts with humility, grace and adaptability as displayed by Lucy. 8.4 CHARACTER ANALYSIS David Lurie David is a fifty-two-year-old white South African male who is a professor in Cape Town. He is the main protagonist of the novel. He is an intelligent man but is vain and uses his good looks to get favour of women through his young days. He is a ladies’ man. David had been through two divorces and was unhappy with his professional life since he was forced to transition from being a tenured faculty specialising in Romantic poets to his current position of a redundant professor of Communications. All this becomes irrelevant when he loses his job after getting sexually involved with one of his students called Melanie Isaac. During the investigation of the sexual harassment charges filed by Melanie, David refused to confess and so he is fired from his job. He travels to Eastern Cape to be with his daughter Lucy who lives on a farm. He gets busy in adjusting to his new life when Lucy and David are attacked by three black African menthe rob the farmhouse, set David on fire and worst of all, they also rape Lucy. This incident creates a void between David and Lucy, and she refuses to speak to him about her rape. In the interim, David volunteers in the animal shelter run by Bev Shaw who is Lucy’s friend. David finds Bev unattractive and too simple for his tastes, but he comes to appreciate her nature by witnessing her kindness towards animals. Despite his opinion of Bev as a woman, David starts sleeping with her to have some sort of a sexual connection. David asks Lucy to move out from the farm as he becomes aware of a connection between Petrus, the farm help and one of the robbers. But Lucy insists on staying put and this enrages David, and he misbehaves with Petrus. All this leads to Lucy asking David to move out of the farm. Lucy Lucy is a young white woman in her twenties and lives on a farm in Eastern Cape. She is David’s only child. They are not very close even though they get along just fine. The distance in their relationship does not stop Lucy from welcoming David to her farm when he visits her post losing his job at the university. Even though she has only heard a little about the incident, she does not pressurise David for details and asks him to stay as long as he wants, saying he can treat her hospitality as a “refuge.” In fact, since Lucy’s partner Helen moved 198 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

out recently, she has been staying alone in the house. The only company on the farm she has in the form of Petrus and his family. She introduces Petrus’s presence on the farm to David by mentioning that he helps her in the farm and to take care of the dogs that people leave in her kennels. But when tragedy strikes Petrus is nowhere to be seen. Robbers attack David and Lucy, rob their house, kill the dogs, steal David’s car, set David on fire and raped Lucy After the attack, Lucy becomes a recluse and in fighting depression. She does not even talk to David about the rape. David is hurt seeing Lucy suffer and he suggests that she should move out of the farm. Lucy does not agree to this suggestion and asks him to look after his own affairs. Soon they also discover that one of the attackers called Pollux is related to Petrus’s wife and after some time starts staying with Petrus’s family. Even after this discovery, Lucy wants to stay on the farm and soon they discover that she is pregnant as a result of the rape. One day, David finds Pollux spying on Lucy and in his rage beats up Petrus. After this incident, Lucy asks David to leave the farm immediately. Melanie Isaacs Melanie is a twenty-year-old student who is part of David’s class on Romantic poets. David asks her to come to his house for dinner and drinks, for which she reluctantly agrees. After dinner David asks her to spend the night at his place which she declines. Soon after that David invites her for lunch which is mostly a quiet affair with Melanie being passive. After lunch, David takes Melanie to his house and has sex with her. She is withdrawn throughout the act as if she is not willing to participate in sex but does not have the courage to refuse David. In the coming days, Melanie stops attending college but still David keeps marking her presence. One evening, David decides to meet Melanie and visits her house. He starts kissing her and they have sex. This time also Melanie does not resist but asks him to stop as she was expecting her roommate to return home shortly. This does not discourage David and he continues. In a surprising turn of events, one night Melanie comes to David’s house to seek shelter they have sex for one last time. Around this time, Melanie’s boyfriend Ryan confronts David regarding David’s relationship with Melanie in his office, threatens him and goes to the extent of vandalising David’s car. In addition to this Melanie’s father Mr. Isaacs contact David to ask if he can help Melanie in any way since she has dropped out of school. Mr. Isaacs is not able to think of a reason why she should do so as she has always been a good student. Soon after this conversation, Melanie’s father finds out the real cause of Melanie’s unusual behaviour and the Isaac family files a sexual harassment charge against David. Petrus Petrus is a black male who assists Lucy in the farm and with the dogs. He also shares her land. He lives there with his pregnant wife and children. During his stay at the farm, David notices that Petrus is gradually becoming lax in his duties on the farm, and he also senses an ambition in Petrus to own more land. In fact, through the novel, it becomes more and more clear that Petrus is interested in expanding his land holdings and also in building a house for 199 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

himself. For this he puts up a fence between his and Lucy’s house and also starts laying down pipes. In some time, David and Lucy discover that one of their attackers caller Pollux is related to Petrus Post this realisation, David wants to report Pollux to the police, but Lucy dismisses the idea citing that the problem is not with the people but with the history. In the coming days, Pollux moves into Petrus’s house and is in close proximity to Lucy. This makes David very uncomfortable, and he wants to take Lucy away from the farm. To set this plan in motion he even asks Petrus to look after Lucy’s farm while they go on a small vacation. Petrus refuses saying that he is already busy with his work and with building his assets. Eventually Petrus suggests a compromise by which he is ready to marry Lucy to provide shelter and protection to her. Since he already had two wives, Lucy will become his third wife. As per obvious reasoning, David does not approve of this idea though Lucy s willing to think about the offer. Even though the novel does not clear mention the events that happened next, it seems likely that Lucy would have accepted Petrus’s offer. Bev Shaw She is a middle-aged woman who lives in Eastern Cape (South Africa) with her husband Bill Shaw. She has immense love for animals and is also one of Lucy’s friends. As per his initial meetings, David finds Bev very simple and unattractive. But as he gets to know her better, he realises that she is a very kind person. Bev runs an animal shelter and has devoted her life to improving those of helpless animals. She rids the animals of their pain and suffering by practicing euthanasia. Since David also is not very occupied during his stay in Eastern Cape, he starts helping at the animal clinic alongside Bev. He experience helps him realise her true kind nature. In some time, he even develops a sexual relationship with her. Though he does not find her attractive, still having sex with her makes him feel less lonely. In a land foreign to him. In many ways, Bev stands in stark contrast to David, since her selflessness and lack of vanity juxtapose his arrogant, hot-headed nature. Bill Shaw Bill Shaw is Bev’s husband David finds him as a very simple man. However, Bill shocks David with his kind heart as he picks him up from the hospital after the robbery on the farm. Bill goes out of the way and upholds his side of friendship with David by waiting at the hospital to take him home as the discharge procedure take hours to get completed. This gesture by Bill leaves David baffled and makes him wonder if he would have done the same for Bill in similar circumstances. But these thoughts do not discourage David from having an affair with Bill’s wife of which Bill has no knowledge. Pollux Pollux is one of the gang members who robs Lucy’s farm and rapes her. He is a teenage boy related to Petrus’s wife and suffers from cognitive challenges which are not specified. His condition does not deter David from attacking him when he catches Pollux peeping from the 200 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)