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Rating:  -
In this highly original three-dimensional book, J.M. Coetzee voices his strong opinions on shame and apology as well as on his moral indignation against all kinds of violence (political, economical, social, personal, physical).
The Machiavellian State uses physical (torture) as well as social violence by attacking or abolishing civil liberties. The latest legislation in the US, the UK and Australia imposes drastic restrictions on freedom of speech and surveillance of the entire world's telephonic and electronic communications.
Those legislators should be `ashamed' and `apology' for their crimes against humanity. But, to the contrary, they consider that they cannot commit a crime, since they are the ones who define crime.
He gives strong comments on sex violence (pedophilia) and violence against minorities and animals.
He sees a pure free market economy as the battle of all against all, as a `dog-eats-dog' ideology.
Withdrawing funds for free independent research in universities is a form of intellectual violence.
His reflections on violence include also comments on authors like Dostoevsky and Faulkner.
Confronted by a hostile world and a bad year, the pessimistic anarchist finds his ultimate nirvana in art (J.S. Bach, Tolstoy, the classics, photography).
I found however two strong caveats in this book.
J. M. Coetzee writes: `Western science ... arguing that what cannot be demonstrated scientifically to be true ... cannot be true ... by any standard that counts.'
This is not correct. There is no necessary link between science and truth. Truth is correspondence with the facts (A. Tarski). There are scientific, as well as musical (Did Beethoven write symphonies?), forensic (Did he rape her?) or any other kind of truths.
J.M. Coetzee writes: `As long as there is not one of us who has the faintest idea of how to go about constructing a housefly from scratch, how can we disparage as intellectually naïve the conclusion that the housefly must have been put together by an intelligence.' (Intelligent Design).
This seems to be the same argument used by Subdean William Paley in his `Natural Theology' to prove the existence of God.
But that is not the crucial point. As a US judge decided in a famous trial: I.D. is religion.
I.D. is part of a counterattack by the second Estate (the clergy) and its powerful allies against those who shred its ideology and concomitantly its power base into pulp. I.D. is backed by the wealthy few and the political Right and used as a weapon in the power struggle for political, financial, energy and other `real' stuff.
Richard Dawkins's `The Blind Watchmaker' remains an essential read.
Taking to heart G. Lukacz's words that `one's first duty as a writer is to express social and historical processes', J.M. Coetzee continues to tackle head-on the essential problems and also the possible enjoyments of our modern society.
He should be an example for all living authors.
Highly recommended.
Rating:  -
Coetzee has always been interested in the intersection between fiction and politics. DISGRACE, his most famous novel, is a somewhat traditional story set in the specific political context of post-apartheid South Africa. His earlier WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS, set in an unnamed place and time, uses fiction as a parable for political repression in almost any age, not least our own. But in his latest work, DIARY OF A BAD YEAR, Coetzee reverses this pattern; the book is frankly presented as a collection of political essays, with any fictional element confined to the footnotes. These essays return to the themes of BARBARIANS -- democracy and the nature of the state -- but now with specific reference to contemporary events such as waterboarding and Guantanamo. The story, such as it is, unspools in two separate bands of footnotes lower down on the page. One concerns the relationship between Coetzee and Anya, the woman (youngish, highly sexed) who is typing the manuscript for him; the other is a parallel narrative told by the typist, including her own relationship with her partner in the upstairs apartment. The theme of an older man's attraction to a young woman is also familiar from other Coetzee books, but I have to say that this particular example is rather uninvolving. The author never really gives Anya a distinctive voice -- though I am not sure that this is important to him.
Coetzee himself characterizes what the critics say of his recent work: "At heart he is not really a novelist at all, they say, but a pedant who dabbles in fiction." There is some truth in this, and he knows it. But that does not make the book dull. For one thing, as we know from his collection INNER WORKINGS, Coetzee is a superb essayist; nothing he writes is uninteresting. For another, the layout of the book in three parallel tracks makes for a very interesting dynamic in reading. Although the book is constructed in short chapters, the three strands seldom pause at the same time; there is always at least one thread pulling you forward. You find yourself changing your ways of reading, sometimes going down each page vertically in the usual way, sometimes reading one of the bands across several pages before going back to catch up on the others. And then you begin to find references from one of the levels recurring on another one many pages later; the three layers get out of synch, creating a fascinating pattern of past, present, and possibly future -- if a writer at the end of his creative life (as he sees himself) can be said to have a future.
This, I believe, is what concerns Coetzee most. The book reads as two drafts of a final testament written after a lifetime of thought. The first part (two thirds of the whole), entitled "Strong Opinions," supposedly consists of a manuscript the novelist is preparing for a German publisher, obiter dicta from a Nobel Prize guru. Hard-hitting thoughts, to be sure, but as Anya gradually makes him realize, they are also somewhat impersonal. In the final third, he starts a private diary, written for himself alone (though shared with Anya); these entries deal with emotions, dreams, the process of writing, music, and the afterlife. Does the novelist leave more to later generations by posing as a sage, or by constructing a fiction out of his inmost thoughts? He leaves us in no doubt that this is a construction. The further on we get in the story, the more we become aware of the author at work, contriving what we read. Of course Anya is not a real character; she is meant to be seen as an invention of the author's, a stalking horse, an implied critic, and an object of his erotic fantasy. The transparency is pathetic, really -- a kind of mental masturbation -- but it also lets us see much deeper inside the heart of this aging man than all the assurance of his opening polemic could ever do.
Rating: -
JC, author of Waiting for the Barbarians, lives on the bottom floor of an apartment building. Anya, a sexy, brainy girl, lives on the top floor with her boorish boyfriend, Alan. JC is asked by a German publisher to write opinions on various topics of his choosing. Seeing Anya in the laundry room, JC is instantly enthralled. Learning that she is in between jobs, he has this dish type his manuscript for him. Alan, who happens to have a little of the swindler in him, is jealous. Anya finds herself drawn to JC as she reads these pieces, the softer, more personal ones giving her more insight than the cold, hard political ones.
"Diary of a Bad Year" continues Coetzee's path away from traditional narrative form. With one exception, each page is divided in thirds throughout. JC's opinions are on the top third of the page, ranging from thoughts on democracy, terrorism, and anarchism. There are references to Cheney, Howard, Kurosawa, Machiavelli, and Bach. All of this in itself is fascinating to read. The middle third is JC's interaction with the young Anya told from his point of view. The bottom third is Anya, talking about JC, Alan, etc. Her characterization of loutish Alan's comments seem to be at first a counterpoint to JC's opinion pieces. Ultimately, though, and to his extreme disadvantage, Alan's words seem to validate some of JC's political and societal musings.
It is hard to really figure out which is the best way to read this: page by page or section by section. Starting out page by page, I personally found that Anya especially wasn't coming alive for me. Changing and reading chunks of each third seemed to correct that, though I personally found her a weak character. (I am not always convinced that older men can write effectively from a young woman's point of view. Write what you know about, as Anya herself would advise.) I found the top third of the novel - JC's Strong Opinions and Second Diary - the best and most thought-provoking part of the book.
If you are looking for another Disgrace, then this is not the book for you. That for me is Coetzee's best. I compare this somewhat to the experimental Elizabeth Costello, a novel I also admired.
Rating: -
This "novel" unfolds in three parallel tracks: a series of "strong opinions" written for an anthology by an aging South African writer living in Australia (Senor C); Senor C's internal thoughts, particularly regarding his young, sensuous typist, Anya; and Anya's internal thoughts. All three tracks share the page, but the structure remains easy to follow. Senor C's strong opinions are interesting in their own right, but the true brilliance of this book is Anya's subtle influence over Senor C's opinions, which become more personal over time. Coetzee delivers an enlightening glimpse into the process of writing and the formulation of a writer's ideas.
Rating: -
I write to thank Coetzee for bringing up the increased use of "appropriate" and "inappropriate" as lazy substitutes for words with precise meanings. You know you've encountered blah writing, and/or possibly psychobabble, when you encounter a text larded with these words. They particularly appear today in much legal writing. Here, for instance, is a sentence from the California Supreme Court's recent gay marriage decision: "In light of the evolution of our state's understanding concerning the equal dignity and respect to which all persons are entitled without regard to their sexual orientation, it is not _appropriate_ to interpret these provisions in a way that, as a practical matter, excludes gay individuals from the protective reach of such basic civil rights." What is the court attempting to say in this sentence? Using "appropriate" clouds the sentence's intended meaning.
I've compiled a list of substitutes in recent weeks and offer them here.
For "appropriate":
(1) (referring to an objective quality of suitability):
acceptable
advisable
apt
commendable
condign
equitable
fair
fit
fitting
just
justifiable
justified
meet
necessary
opportune
proper
qualified
reasonable
required
salutary
satisfactory
sound
sufficient
suitable
useful
warranted
welcome
well-tailored
well-timed
worthwhile
worthy
(2) (reflecting a positive personal quality or action):
adroit
deft
graceful
mannerly
polite
tasteful
thoughtful
timely
well-adjusted
For "inappropriate":
(1) (referring to an objective quality of unsuitability):
awkward
discordant
disturbing
dubious
embarrassing
ill-advised
improper
inadequate
off the mark
overreaching
unhelpful
unjust
unjustifiable
unjustified
unpalatable
untimely
unwise
(2) (reflecting a person's poor judgment, psychological problems, or misconduct):
awkward
despicable
disturbed
disturbing
embarrassing
impolite
irresponsible
maladroit
off
offhand
off-key
poorly timed
reprehensible
tacky
unfair
unfeeling
unseemly
vexatious
(3) (reflecting poor manners):
clumsy
crass
embarrassing
gauche
ill-mannered
in bad taste
in poor form
indecorous
insolent
louche
overbearing
overweening
rude
uncalled for
uncouth
undignified
untoward
vulgar
There are many other substitutes for "appropriate" and "inappropriate," enough that one seldom needs to use either word. "Appropriate" and "inappropriate" are useful, however, for expressing a psychological reaction to a stimulus ("his giggling reaction to the victim's distress was inappropriate"), and I try to limit those words to that use. Thanks again to Coetzee for bringing up the topic.
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