Dave Ross

All posts tagged with south-african

8 posts found

The Pole

A Polish pianist with an unpronounceable last name (let’s call him W) comes to give a recital in Barcelona. The usual well-heeled arts volunteers, including one Beatriz, arranged the recital. Beatriz, whose name immediately resonates with Dante’s muse, Beatrice, will find herself in similar circumstances but will turn the tables before all is said. We soon learn W is in his 70s and Beatriz is in her early 50s. They are to meet with another couple following the recital but...

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The Lives of Animals

In The Lives of Animals , the idea of cruelty to animals consumes novelist Elizabeth Costello. She can no longer look another person in the eye. Humans, especially meat-eating ones, seem to her to be conspirators in a crime of stupefying magnitude. And it’s taking place on farms and in slaughterhouses, factories, and laboratories across the world. A fictional American university invites Costello to speak on the issue. An aging Australian writer, Costello’s son also happens to teach physics there....

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The Promise

Damon Galgut wrote The Promise, which was published in 2021. Set in South Africa, the story revolves around a family and their struggles with identity, secrets, and the legacy of apartheid. The novel begins with a young boy named Amor, who witnesses a violent incident involving his mother and a stranger. This event sets in motion a chain of events that spans several decades, as the narrative follows the lives of four characters: Amor, his sister Marion, their mother Rachel,...

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Waiting for the Barbarians

Waiting for the Barbarians is a novel by the South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee. First published in 1980, it was chosen by Penguin for its series Great Books of the 20th Century and won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for fiction. American composer Philip Glass has also written an opera of the same name based on the book which premiered in September 2005 at Theater Erfurt, Germany. The theme of colonial imposition...

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The Conservationist

Set in apartheid-era South Africa, the story revolves around a wealthy white businessman named Mehring who acquires a farm in the countryside. Mehring acquires a farm called Trekkersburg. Through Mehring’s perspective, Nadine Gordimer explores the dichotomy between the black majority who work the land and the white minority who hold power. Mehring’s attempts to assert control over the land and its people reflect the broader dynamics of white privilege. The exploitation of black labor during the apartheid era is naturally...

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Elizabeth Costello

J.M. Coetzee published Elizabeth Costello in 2003. The story revolves around the fictional character of Elizabeth Costello, a renowned and aging Australian writer who travels the world giving lectures and engaging in philosophical debates. The novel is structured as a series of chapters that depict different moments in Elizabeth’s life. These moments include her interactions with family members, encounters with other intellectuals, and public speaking engagements. Through these episodes, Coetzee raises profound questions about literature, ethics, animals, and the nature...

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Slow Man

J.M. Coetzee wrote Slow Man in 2005. The story revolves around Paul Rayment, an aging photographer who suffers a debilitating accident that results in the amputation of his leg. The novel explores themes of identity, loss, and human connection. After his accident, Paul becomes dependent on others for his daily needs. He struggles to come to terms with his new reality. He is assigned a caregiver named Marijana, a young Croatian immigrant who initially resents her role. However, she gradually...

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Stranger Shores

Two-time Booker Prize-winner J. M. Coetzee is one of the world’s greatest novelists and in Stranger Shores he turns his gaze on those who have influenced him. This thought-provoking collection gathers twenty-six of his essays on books and writing. In his opening piece, “What Is a Classic?”, Coetzee asks, “What does it mean in living terms to say that the classic is what survives?” He explores the answer by way of T. S. Eliot, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Zbigniew Herbert....

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