After an impulsive and unrepentant affair with a young female student, he is sent on what might be politely described as “administrative leave,” exiled to his daughter’s small farm. The word that comes to mind is “inaccessible.” Fortunately, Disgrace turned out to be not only an easily readable book, but a deeply rich and literary one.ĭavid Lurie, a protagonist simultaneously unlikeable and identifiable, teaches literature at a university in Cape Town. Coetzee’s Disgrace – as both a Booker prize winner, and a contender for the Best of the Bookers, and the most famous novel of a Nobel Prize winner – would certainly fit into that category. However, this is not entirely true as it appears that his shallow outlook of women is what has caused his two divorce cases and his inability to connect with any of the women.I sometimes divide my TBR pile into books that I want to read and books that I feel obligated to read, and J.M. Through the story, Coetzee simply represents other characters through that of Lurie.įor example, he presents the position of all others as going through the subjective outlook of Lurie. The question for the issue is if the character of Lurie could effectively work as the filtering point to develop the context for all other characters (Coetzee 10-17). However, exposure to Lurie’s person does not present intimacy so much as it portrays his isolation. The author writes these ideas through the eyes of Lurie, where the reader is exposed to his spoken dialogue as well as the unspoken thoughts – which portray his discourse, desire, and passions.Įven though the novel is written in the third person, the language, perceptions and the thoughts of Lurie dominate the narrative, which shows that character development for all others is filtered through that of Lurie. The book clearly presents the position of men and women as well as sex and the disgrace that comes with it.
He is also shown as sexually active, as he has married twice in the past (Coetzee 10). The last theme is that of geriatric sexuality, where Lurie, a 52-year old, is portrayed as crossing age and departmental boundaries in chase of women. The incident directs to the theme of justice: she fails to report the case – seeing no sense of justice in her society. Other themes displayed through the book include rape, where Lucy is raped by the robbers at her house. There is also that of race, where the legacy of racism is still seen, although apartheid was legally over. The varied subjects and complexities are exposed through the themes of animal treatment, which cause great attitude change in Lurie fathers and daughters, as obvious from the unique father-daughter relationship between Lucy and Lurie.
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