JM Coetzee (was Vietnam and Pynchon - Wrong Question?)

[Hartwin Alfred Gebhardt]

Andrew Dinn sez:

> I just reread JM Coetzee's `The Vietnam Project', a short story from
> 1972 republished in 1983 in the UK under the title Dusklands alongside
> a tale of a putative? Dutch ancestor, Jacobus Coetzee Janszoon, as a
> companion piece.
>
> The protagonist in `The Vietnam Project' is a mythographer, Eugene
> Dawn (a name for which he, quite rightly, apologizes in the opening
> line), charged with advising the US military on psi ops. The story
> displays precisely Craig's point - that the real war went on (is still
> going on) in the US. Dawn never sets foot - never needs to - in
> Vietnam. It's brilliant and as near to Pynchon as anything I have ever
> read.  The other story is also excellent. I'll try to furnish some
> quotes tomorrow.
> 
> Anyone know more about Coetzee's work (hag presumably must). He has
> three other novels which I have not yet read but am placing at the top
> of the pile.

History (and everything involved in writing it) is one of Coetzee's main 
interests, maybe his main obsession. But this is a rather tame label 
to pin on his work. His background is in computer science (and 
linguistics) and his scope of interest is vast (he also has a reputation 
for his ability as a researcher). As a writer (and he's also a critic), he's on 
the same stratospheric level as Pynchon - not a compliment made lightly. 
He's got six novels out, the latests (on Dostoevski) being "The Master of 
Petersburg" - I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read it yet. His other 
novels are "Foe", "The Life & Times of Michael K", "Waiting for the 
Barbarians", "In the Heart of the Country". He seems to be more 
appreciated in the US than in Europe or even here in SA. 
As to his "putative? Dutch ancestor, Jacobus Coetzee", I seem to 
recall that this is genuine, but of course such a 'fact' falls plumly 
into his area of interest as both writer and critic, so one never 
knows. Btw, it seems that he shares that ancestor with Andre Brink. 
On the day I received my MA degree JM Coetzee was collecting another 
honorary doctorate, presented by Andre Brink, who referred to the 
same Jacobus Coetzee in his speech. It's of course possible that the 
two are having everybody on - it wouldn't surprise me. The then head 
of the English Department, whom I happened to come across at the 
reception afterwards, asked me whether I knew if this was genuine, so 
there seems to be general confusion. And for some reason simply 
asking them seems just not on. I suspect that this is once again 
entirely the wrong _kind_ of thing to ask, though. 

Coetzee is recommended reading, no doubt about it.

hg
hag at iafrica.com