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🦋 Now I really want to read Coetzee

Jorge López has been recommending Coetzee since I've been reading his blog; nothing has made me as interested as this sentence, from his review today of Disgrace: "It [Coetzee's narrative style] is able to create personalities so lovable, their complexity and imperfection make it difficult not to feel a sensation of identity." I'm happy to see this trope of identification with a novel's characters invoked. Adding Disgrace to my list, moving Elizabeth Costello up in priority.

posted morning of Friday, December 26th, 2008
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I would toss in Coetzee's two memoirs, Childhood and Youth. They give you a good idea of his background and themes, and they are both pretty short. Disgrace is a must-read. E. Costello is pretty weird, a bunch of lectures/essays fitted together as a novel.

Thanks for the Saramago guide. I'm going in blind (heh) on both him and Pamuk; probably won't get to either till midyear.

posted evening of December 26th, 2008 by paledave

Well, I'm glad I tempted to get into Coetzee!, though I should say maybe Disgrace is a better starting point. Elizabeth Costello, a personal favorite, it's a strange mix of essay and fiction, which I find delightful and refreshing, but it makes it less oriented on character development and more into ideas, many of them quite controversial. You've been warned! :)

posted morning of December 27th, 2008 by Jorge López

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