Michael K

by Nthikeng Mohlele

"Those in the know claim Michael K disembarked from a diesel-smoke-spewing truck one overcast morning, looked around, and without missing a beat, chose a spot where he set down a small bucket (red, burnt and disfigured) that contained an assortment of seedlings, some fisherman’s twine and a rudimentary gardening tool – probably self-made."

How is it that a character from literary fiction can so alter the landscapes he touches, even as he – in his self-imposed isolation – seeks to avoid them? How is it that Michael K, bewildered and bewildering, can remain so fragile yet so present, so imposing without attempting to be so?

In this response to JM Coetzee’s classic masterpiece, Life & Times of Michael K, Nthikeng Mohlele dabbles in the artistic and speculative in a unique attempt to unpack the dazed and disconnected world of the title character, his solitary ways, his inventiveness, but also to show how astutely Michael K holds up a mirror to those whose paths he inadvertently crosses.

Michael K explores the weight of history and of conscience, thus wrestling the character from the confines of literary creation to the frontiers of artistic timelessness.

152 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2018

About the author

Nthikeng Mohlele was partly raised in Limpopo and Tembisa Township, and attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Art, Publishing Studies and African Literature. He is the author of four critically acclaimed novels: The Scent of Bliss (2008), Small Things (2013), Rusty Bell (2014) and Pleasure (2016). Pleasure won the 2016 University of Johannesburg Main Prize for South African Writing in English as well as the 2017 K. Sello Duiker Memorial Prize at the South African Literary Awards. It has also been longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Michael K is Mohlele’s fifth novel.

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nthikeng writes beautifully with a certain tactile sensuality. Mohlele arranges words, sentences and paragraphs like a gifted composer would. Reminded me of "
Duettino- Sull'aria" from one of Mozart’s most popular operas ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ featured in the film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Each time I came back to this book having left it after a day or two, the aria would continue where it had left off.

This book arrived on the book scene under/over or veiled by the cloud of JM Coetzee's "The Life And Times Of Michael K" whose shadow stood there, looming large right there, like a sage.

I wish it wasn't promoted like that. Reading it felt like I was missing something fundamentally important because I haven't read JM Coetzee's "The Life And Times Of Michael K". It felt like I wasn't "in" on the secret.

It felt like I didn't get THIS Michael K because I didn't know the other Michael K, making my reading flow anticlimactic...like this...like Ozymandias, "Look on my works, ye mighty and despair".

Like a door half closed. Maybe half opened...

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4. BRIGHT. SHINY. STARS

Re-reviewed this after having read JM's and re-read Mohlele's. Will post shortly.

[Mary-Anne Lekoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I just finished reading this fine book yesterday. I have never been so pleasantly surprised by an author, like ever.
Getting into the book I was still hanging onto my thoughts of having to read J.M. Coetzee's book first before burrying myself into this one. The fact that I had no other knowledge of the Michael K from Coetzee's world hung over my head like a dark cloud of sorts, like I wasn't in on the real secret. But fortunately that was all assuaged by Mohlele's sheer literary prowess. The man writes beautifully, I found myself reading some of the lines out to my colleagues. As if I thought the words to be too lovely  to be subject to the confines of a paperback.
Strange as it may be, I wasn't all that interested in Michael K anyway. More than anything I think the character is just but a point of reference for the main character's personal pursuits.
Without trying to ruin the book for anyone who plans to read it let me just stop here. I could go on and on about the man's bewitching writing skills but I have a feeling my wordage will fail me.
That being said, I plan on reading his other works as well. So that I can be a proper fan.

[Jake Goretzki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd, odd beast - but surprisingly memorable and strangely enjoyable. I came to it because I try to keep up with South African award winners. Coetzee's Michael K is an absolute gem, obvs - and anything that competently riffs off it deserves a look. I love the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern principle too (the idea of making fiction out of other fiction, provided it isn't shit fanfic).

The character and voice reminded me most of Ignatius Reilly - grandiloquent and self-obsessed, while the idea of a civil servant / immigration officer nurturing the belief that he's a poet has a kind of comic richness.

I'm not sure how much it all adds up to and how politically significant any of the observations of Michael K are at all (Michael is as remote as ever). But... I dunno: interesting. Probably merits a second read.

[Hancheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t even know why I was reading this. The opening is fine and I quite like how the author sets up the ground to integrate Michael K and how to assert own authorities. I like how the text gives a humanistic touch to the tragic character Michael K, but when the author talks about the city and philosophy, suddenly the text becomes dry and the plot disappears. In the repetitive and redundant section on poetry, I am completely lost and don’t see the need to superficially include these stuff. The author is clearly self indulging to the extent that poisons the flow of the story. Anyway, finished for one of my course.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how this book turns from rural recluse to city recluse, and shows how poetry, the desire to create it, bridges the gap between the two. Michael K in Johannesburg.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Life and Times, which I didn't like, my expectations were quite low, and I was fairly vertain I wouldn't enjoy this. However, I actually much prefer it!