Disgrace
by J. M. Coetzee
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Book Summary Information
Author: J. M. CoetzeeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-01
ISBN: 0140296409
Number of pages: 220
Publisher: Penguin Books
Book Reviews of Disgrace
Book Review: "My case rests on the rights of desire" (p. 89)
Summary: 4 Stars
I really love how this novel begins, so directly, so effortlessly. And I like the clean, crisp way Coetzee moves the plot. The third person narrative, focused on one-time romantic literature professor, now "communications" professor, David Lurie, allows us to see the world from his point of view. The asides and interior monologues are mostly from him, yet seamlessly some are from the author. Lurie is 52 years old, divorced and quite straightforward in satisfying his sexual needs. But the first sentence in the book, "...he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well" proves in a few pages to be ironic.
But note this: for a man of his age there is the problem of sex--not the Joy of Sex, not the urgent need of sex, not the romance of sex, not even the Job of Sex, but simply the problem of sex. When he loses his sexual partner we begin to see he is a man who will go to some trouble, some extreme to find a solution. And when he chances to fall into a position of being able to seduce one of his students, he does it. Clearly he is drawn only to her youth, to the call of Eros, as he terms it.
This is his disgrace, a disgrace he brought upon himself and, to his credit, acknowledges. One does not use one's position to take advantage of one's students, even if they are above the age of consent. Lurie knows this. But what internationally acclaimed novelist Coetzee does--and this is a brilliant stroke--is to juxtapose Lurie's disgrace with a more significant and more horrific disgrace that befalls his daughter. It is this device that makes the reader see how terrible is the act of rape and how it is clearly a crime of power, as the feminists have been telling us for years. Interesting and highly argumentative is the question of how far the act of rape is from that of seduction. In one sense they are light years apart; in another, especially if the seduced is very young, they are to some extent similar.
From these very different, yet similar disgraces, Coetzee weaves his theme of rape as a literal statement of power politics acted out in South Africa. We speak of the rape of the land, the rape of a people, and the rape of individuals. This interlacing of such ideas is part of what makes this an excellent piece of work.
One of the weaknesses of the novel is that it is too didactic in the relative ease in which Lurie learns his lessons about what it is to be a woman in this world. Coetzee plays a little too obviously to his female readership. Nonetheless the lessons that Lurie learns are real and valid, and the only artistic harm here is perhaps in a too calculated delineation.
In the last part of the novel, unfortunately, Coetzee begins to lose his bearings. First, Lurie's ready adoption of his new way of life in the country seems unlikely. He is a cultured man of the city. Then there is the daughter's obstinance which has become ridiculous, so much so that the reader begins to believe she has some kind of irrational or hidden motive for staying on the farm and embracing those who have done her harm. Of course her "condition" was no surprise, but her reaction to it really makes a statement that is in conflict with what has gone on before. Is she masochistic or does she feel a kind of moral imperative to be used and exploited as the black people of South Africa have been used and exploited by the Europeans? Is it Coetzee's message that Lucy wants to shoulder the guilt of her ancestors while merging reproductively with the black community?
Note too that Lurie defends himself against the charge of fornication with a student by calling upon the "rights of desire." Are his "rights of desire" any different than those who rape? I don't like the idea of equating seduction with rape, but if the defense in either case is one of desire, then is it any defense at all? Perhaps this is Coetzee's point.
One other thing: why is it that Lucy's mother is not more involved with her daughter? Also it would appear that Lucy is holding some sort of grudge against her father, but that is never explained. And why is Lurie so drawn to the mercy killing of the animals? Somehow it doesn't seem to fit his character. Are these just loose ends that Coetzee never bothered to tie up? Also a man so taken with "girls" is not likely to be enthralled enough to sleep with the likes of Bev Shaw, except as an act of atonement. Perhaps that is what Coetzee had in mind. If so, it seems a bit clumsy.
But perhaps I have misread Coetzee. At any rate this is a quick and easy read with a controversial mix of thematic ideas by a master prose stylist.
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