Reading 1001 discussion

This book, written by South African author J. M. Coetzee in 1980, tells the story of a magistrate of an outpost of the Empire. The magistrate and the Empire are never given a name. The Empire sends some soldier's or government agents to investigate the barbarians and to stop any insurrection that might be brewing. Their methods are brutal. They learn nothing about the culture. They capture and torture people who probably have no information and they do unspeakable cruelties. The magistrate finds himself confronted with knowledge that he wishes he could avoid, cover his head, stick his head int he sand but he no longer can do so. Later the magistrate is removed from his office, accused of treason and also tortured. In between there is this diversion where he finds one of the female torture victim and there is a quite a bit of pages about his messaging her, oiling her and in general doing some kind of penance to make up for his allowing such cruelty. I do think this story may reflect how it might be to be South African in a country under apartheid which Coetzee was when he wrote this story. He was one of the privileged. This magistrate may be the author. The Empire may be South Africa. There is a lot of sexual content that I think might be significant. It did not read as gratuitous. The magistrate was a womanizer but in the end he barely was able to engage with other people. Another item that is reoccurring are eyes and especially blind eyes. What i got from the book is that if you use torture then you are the barbarian. If you try to be blind to what your country is doing, you still are participating and you are a barbarian. I think Coetzee is very good with his writing though his stories are far from enjoyable pleasure reads. Rating 4.42 BOTM 2017

A dark yet compelling book about oppressors and oppressed, Coetzee raises questions about justice and the human need to make some meaning of life. The scope of this short book is very wide and leaves the reader with questions to ask and answer, ideas to ponder over, plumbing the depths of human nature, loss and pain, resilience and what it means to be stripped down to the bare bones of existence.

Pre-2017 review:

*** 1/2

The best Coetzee I have read so far. The allegory Empire/Magistrate/Barbarians universalises the relationship between oppressor and oppressed, but is also a reflection about the South Africa he grew within, during the Apartheid period. Not an easy reading topic, but nevertheless a piece of work with many messages, plenty of symbolism and lots of food for thought.

I appreciate this book on an intellectual level although I didn't really find it that compelling or interesting to read. I appreciate the allegory of colonization as told through the magistrate's changing relationship with the representatives of the empire local citizens. I also appreciate what the Boxall entry says about the book as a meditation on the act of writing itself. This was my first Coetzee and probably will not be my last because he is all over the 1001 list, but I will not be racing to get back to his work.

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2