More on Coetzee...

[Mark Kohut]

Because of something in AtD that echoes something in one of Coetzee's novels; and because of some of coetzee's themes---see state vs citizen below---I have a totally wild-ass
  belief that TRP has read Coetzee and may even be friends with him. (as he is with McEwan, say)

Lawrence Bryan <lebryan at speakeasy.org> wrote:
    

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
  






       
---------------------------------
Building a website is a piece of cake. 
Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20070828/4f6d4f02/attachment-0001.html>