More on Coetzee...

[Lawrence Bryan]

Diary of a Bad Year---October, 2007

An eminent, seventy-two-year-old Australian writer is invited to  
contribute to a book entitled Strong Opinions. It is a chance to air  
some urgent concerns. He writes short essays on the origins of the  
state, on Machiavelli, on anarchism, on Al-Qaida, on intelligent  
design, on music. What, he asks, is the origin of the state and the  
nature of the relationship between citizen and state? How should the  
citizen of a modern democracy react to the state’s willingness to set  
aside moral considerations and civil liberties in its war on terror,  
a war that includes the use of torture? How does the state handle  
outsiders?

In the laundry-room of his apartment block he encounters an alluring  
young woman. When he discovers she is between jobs he claims failing  
eyesight and offers her work typing up his manuscript. Anya has no  
interest in politics but the job provides a distraction, as does the  
writer’s evident and not unwelcome attraction toward her. Her  
boyfriend, Alan, an investment consultant who understands the world  
in harsh neo-liberal economic terms, has reservations about his  
trophy girlfriend spending time with this 1960s throwback. Taking a  
lively interest in his affairs, Alan begins to formulate a plan.


Looks promising.

Lawrence

On Aug 26, 2007, at 7:46 AM, bekah wrote:

At 4:44 AM -0700 8/20/07, Lawrence Bryan wrote:
> While trying to verify the title - no St, just Petersburg - I came  
> across Coetzee's Nobel lecture.
>
> http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4815307-99930,00.html
>
> I wonder what folks there thought as he read it.


I'm sure it only served to substantiate their ideas that Coetzee is a  
very strange man.

Bekah


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20070827/0ec34795/attachment-0001.html>