Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 An Obscure Prodigy J.M. Coetzee’s 'Life and Times of Michael K' at Forty
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'These are the words of Mrs Curren, the elderly narrator of J.M. Coetzee’s under-appreciated mid-period novel Age of Iron (1990), but it would be easy enough to find similarly anguished sentiments being expressed by the Magistrate in Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), or Dostoevsky in The Master of Petersburg (1994), or David Lurie in Disgrace (1996), or the eponymous protagonist of Elizabeth Costello (2003). It has long been apparent that there is a recognisable Coetzeean type, who appears in various guises in his many novels. These characters tend to be educated products of their relatively privileged social positions. They are conscious of the pain and injustice in the world, conscious of their own suffering, and conscious of their impotence in the face of overmastering contexts. Their common instinct is to philosophise about these problems. Many ironies, gruelling and subtle, arise from their desire for redemption and their simultaneous awareness of its impossibility, not least of which is that their penchant for metaphysical high-mindedness has a distinct tendency – on display in Mrs Curren’s lament – to bend back on itself in a way that resembles self-absorption or even self-pity.' (Introduction)

Notes

  • Epigraph: ‘Why should I be expected to rise above my times? Is it my doing that my times have been so shameful? Why should it be left to me, old and sick and full of pain, to lift myself out of this pit of disgrace?’

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 456 August 2023 26600811 2023 periodical issue

    'Welcome to the August issue of ABR! This month we celebrate great short fiction with the announcement and publication of the shortlist for the 2023 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. The winner will be revealed at an online ceremony on 17 August. Also in the August issue, Dennis Altman explores some of the complexities facing Australian Jews regarding Australia’s relationship with Israel, James Ley reflects on J.M. Coetzee’s novel The Life and Times of Michael K forty years after its original publication, and Jonathan Green reviews a new biography of Rupert Murdoch. Elsewhere, Kevin Foster examines the first of two new books on the Ben Roberts-Smith case, Joan Beaumont reviews a new work of history from Robin Prior, and Shannon Burns considers a new book on Gerald Murnane.' (Publication summary)

     

    2023
    pg. 50
Last amended 3 Aug 2023 14:18:13
50 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2023/august-2023-no-456/992-august-2023-no-456/10578-james-ley-on-j-m-coetzee An Obscure Prodigy J.M. Coetzee’s 'Life and Times of Michael K' at Fortysmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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