Elizabeth Costello (Paperback)

This book is (as the author tells us) a re-working of previous material, in particular ‘The Lives of Animals’. It deals with several discrete issues, for example the conflict between the humanities and religion in Africa, the purpose of the novel in Africa, the nature of evil and whether a book that describes evil in detail is obscene, and, its main topic, whether we should eat animals or not. On all of these issues Coetzee has much of great interest to say, but the issues are probably better dealt with in the essay form.

In order, however, to treat all these topics in one novel, Coetzee has devised a framework which enables Elizabeth Costello to initiate discussion of them, in sequence. The topics do not all belong together in one book without this framework, and the framework is clumsy and contrived. The conversations, or lectures in two cases, in which the ideas are set forth, are all in one uniform voice, giving the characters no differentiation by way of their speech. I was reminded of ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ where the religious and moral arguments are presented by two characters debating eath other in the same voice.

This book is a polemic on issues dear to the author, masquerading as a novel. I have as much interest as any reader in the discussion of ideas, but I found the stage machinery creaky and the dialogue stilted. The non-polemic chapter at the end, where Elizabeth Costello awaits entry into a version of heaven, is beautifully and imaginatively written. But the earlier part of the book required an effort to finish: I was bored with it.

In the same order from Amazon I received ‘The Full Cupboard of Life’, the latest of the novels about Precious Ramotswe of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Apart from being enjoyable to read (which any novel surely ought to be) it dealt with big human issues (honesty, courage, and gender relationships) in a subtle but literary manner. Just as Coetzee has done in ‘Disgrace’.

Coetzee has done something both astonishing and baffling with this novel. At the back of the book he lists his acknowledgements. The truth is that substantial amounts of this novel are lectures that Coetzee himself has previously given and/or published before. As the novel progresses these lectures are integrated less into the story until the final short section which seems to hang very precariously upon the end of the novel and bears no obvious relation to the story. Rather than give us just a straightforward critique of literary fame integrated into his story, Coetzee also mocks how novels are traditionally constructed by writing what amounts to very little story to link these disconnected works. This isn't to say that it makes a bad novel. On the contrary, the story is very effective. I only longed to hear more. Also, the lectures are incredibly interesting focusing on a range of subjects from the rights of animals to the meaning of representing evil in literature. We are given the voice of the artist who is uncertain about his creations and wary of the fame they have brought him, something that the majority of readers don't normally want to hear. Coetzee is able to make this interesting with his masterful use of language and compelling ideas. No doubt Coetzee's uncomfortable relationship to his literary fame has only been strained further having recently won the Nobel Prize. I wonder if he had been writing this novel a little later whether he would have also included the speech he delivered at that ceremony. While this is a fascinating work, I would suggest that if you are approaching Coetzee's work for the first time this strange, short and brilliant novel isn't the best thing to begin with. You might want to start reading some of his earlier and more straightforward novels like the brilliant Disgrace or Age of Iron.