Category: Africa

Dusklands: Coetzee’s Essential Debut Novel

Because the enigmatic South African novelist J. M. Coetzee’s first novel Dusklands is out of print everywhere I’ve looked, I always figured the book must have been a weak start to a great career.

Dusklands was published in 1974, years before Coetzee started hitting his powerful stride with The Life Read the rest

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Bad Summertime: J. M. Coetzee’s Late Comic Phase

“The girl in the apron turned out to be the totality of the catering by Federico’s. By the time she brought in the snacks Alan had downed two glasses of champagne, and that set the pattern for the evening. I stopped drinking early, and Senor C. hardly drank at all;

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