Amazon.co.uk: Disgrace: J.M. Coetzee: Books

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Emerging from the dissident calibrations of literary voices joined together in the culture of protest against the apartheid regime, the distinctive writing of novelist, critic and academic J M Coetzee has become identified as one of the most finely tuned among contemporary Southern African writers. From the local recognition accorded his earliest novel Dusklands to the international acclaim with which his rewriting of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe story, Foe was received, Coetzee has dedicated himself to transforming South African writing from a blunt weapon of struggle to a delicate and incisive instrument of reflective liberation.

Disgrace takes as its complex central character 52-year-old English professor David Lurie whose preoccupation with Romantic poetry--and romancing his students--threatens to turn him into a "a moral dinosaur". Called to account by the University for a passionate but brief affair with a student who is ambivalent about his embraces, David refuses to apologise, drawing on poetry before what he regards as political correctness in his claim that his "case rests on the rights of desire." Seeking refuge with his quietly progressive daughter Lucie on her isolated small holding, David finds that the violent dilemmas of the new South Africa are inescapable when the tentative emotional truce between errant father and daughter is ripped apart by a traumatic event that forces Lucie to an appalling disgrace. Pitching the moral code of political correctness against the values of Romantic poetry in its evocation of personal relationships, this novel is skillful--almost cunning--in its exploration of David's refusal to be accountable and his daughter's determination to make her entire life a process of accountability. Their personal dilemmas cast increasingly foreshortened shadows against the rising concerns of the emancipated community, and become a subtle metaphor for the historical unaccountability of one culture to another.

The ecstatic critical reception with which Disgrace has been received has insisted that its excellence lies in its ability to encompass the universality of the human condition. Nothing could be farther from the truth, or do the novel--and its author--a greater disservice. The real brilliance of this stylish book lies in its ability to capture and render accountable--without preaching--the specific universality of the condition of whiteness and white consciousness. Disgrace is foremost a confrontation with history that few writers would have the resources to sustain. Coetzee's vision is unforgiving--but not bleak. Against the self-piteous complaints of all declining cultures and communities who bemoan the loss of privileges that were never theirs to take, Coetzee's vision of an unredeemed white consciousness holds out--to those who reach towards an understanding of their position in history by starting again, with nothing--the possibility of "a moderate bliss." --Rachel Holmes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Beautifully written and utterly distinctive

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33 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

Dark, merciless and yet ultimately life affirming., 27 Nov 2001

By A Customer

J. M. Coetzee, a Booker Prize-winning author, has immaculate credentials as a literary author. "Disgrace" portrays the fragile political makeup of South Africa as a country, but this is not the overriding aspect of this story. This is an intense gripping story that addresses a number of important issues - not just political but also social and psychological. Perhaps the older we become, the more we understand human nature and can sympathize with human weaknesses. The characters are complex, existentially struggling human beings, hard to understand, and to warm to, but this is precisely where the novel's strength lies, for the tragic, blundering attempts by the protagonist to be understood by those around him, and his faltering efforts at understanding his daughter provides an allegory for people living together in any society.

At fifty-two Professor David Lurie is divorced, having been married twice, he has, in his mind solved the problems of sex rather well, filled with desire but lacking in passion. An affair with one of his students leaves him jobless and friendless. David is still unwilling to admit that sexual fulfilment and passion have passed him by. He believes in romance, as the romantic poets about whom he teaches believe in the wonder of nature. However, as the story unfolds he comes to realise and accept that for him sexual relationships will no longer hold passion or meaning. Before this realisation he has one moment when he feels pure gratitude for all the women in his life. His complacency is short lived, for piece by piece his life begins to crumble around him. As a professor of modern languages, who, under the guise of "the great rationalisation," has now been relegated to adjunct professor. He now teaches Communications 101 at Cape Technical University, formerly Cape Town University College. Post-apartheid South Africa has also gone through a process of rationalisation, and a brittle affair with a student in his romantic poetry class leads to him being fired on sexual harassment charges, and he now seeks refuge at his daughter's house in the country hoping to write a libretto on Byron.

Rural South Africa presents David with a harsh and violent reality, forcing him to reassess life as he has lived it. His daughter, Lucy, who works her smallholding with her neighbour, Petrus, an African farmer now on the way to a modest prosperity. Lucy is held by her love for the land. The visit to his daughter Lucy in the veldt throws him into a different world, of barren heat and dust, hardship, dogs, and a simmering antipathy between the white settlers of the land and the black natives who are gradually reasserting themselves...

Aptly titled, this is a novel about the carrying of disgrace on a daily, human level, about the way that what happens in one fractured family reflects a greater national whole. I came to sympathise with David, and by the end of the book I felt saddened for him. This book sheds light on a society, whose problems are largely forgotten by the West, but who are still struggling to come to terms with there own history. A truly beautifully written novel.

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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

Captivating, 26 Jul 2005

By	Sancho Mahle (Charlotte, USA) - See all my reviews

This is an incredibly insightful story. With its and deep exploration of the relationship between father and daughter, Coetzee successfully brought out a story that is difficult to forget. The characters are rich and portray deep, though extreme emotions, rationale and impulse. Though quite understated and subtle, the writing is nevertheless rich in so meaning. There is everything to learn from this book. Coetzee's writing style is superb, the setting is ingenious and the pace of the novel is fast and absorbing.

In this novel, J.M Coetzee's brilliantly tells the story of the 52 David Lurie, a professor of communications at a Cape Town University, who is twice divorced and went around with the notion that having a woman is no problem. But when he realest that he is no longer alluring, he sought the convenient service of a prostitute, an arrangement that eventually came to an end, leaving him with no outlet for his virility. David Lurie finally convinced himself that an affair with a young female student was not bad after all and went for it. But then the complaint of sexual harassment turned his academic life upside down as he is fired. The unwritten rules of the society ensured that he longer found a place amongst them.
With that realization, David Lurie travels to the country side to a dangerous and isolated farm to write and spend some time with her daughter who ran an animal refuge and sold produce and flowers. Lucy as she is called is violated by thugs and with that David's disgrace became complete. David suddenly finds himself re-evaluating his life, his ties to people, his relationship with his only daughter, as well as his relationships with women. In all of those, he learnt that love is two-sided, a matter of give and take. In this novel one makes sense of the universally acknowledged fact that a man can understand who he is only when he comes to terms with his past. DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY, THE USRPER AND OTHER STORIES are similarly disturbing but riveting titles.

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

An atmospheric novel about race, sexuality and morals, 7 Feb 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Disgrace (Paperback)

Disgrace is set in South Africa and centres on the life of ageing professor David Lurie and his daughter Lucy who runs a small farm in the remote countryside. Lurie embarks on a relationship at work which exploits his position of power, and his questionable morals are thrown into sharp relief by a sinister encounter at his daughter's farm. The book goes on to describe the uncomfortable father-daughter relationship which develops and analyses the behaviour of Lurie, a man at an important junction in his life. It also raises questions about race relations in post-aparteid South Africa, where the cultural divide still seems to be very marked.

I found it easier to pity Lurie rather than sympathise with him, which is sometimes a disadvantage in a main character. However, the writer's understanding of women's nature made Lucy come alive and my empathy for her meant that her actions were easier to understand and justify than Lurie's were. One of the book's strengths is its descriptive passages which allow the reader to build up a good picture of the setting and put the lives and often harsh actions of the characters into context.

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an engaging story. The essence of the book is quite dark, and there is not much to be upbeat about by the end of the novel. However, rather than be depressing, the book encourages you to question where your sympathies lie and seems to be some sort of lesson in moral standards.

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