Master of Petersburg

[Bekah]

I've read The Master of St. Petersburg and many others by Coetzee -   
(Life and Times of Michael K, Disgrace,  Elizabeth Costello, Slow  
Man).   The Master of St. Petersburg is a great novel but I'd suggest  
a quick reread of The Possessed by Dostoevsky along with his  
biography.  Or maybe read TMoSP first and then get to The Possessed  
(part 3) and a bio.

Coetzee is a Dostoevsky scholar but The Master of St. Petersburg is a  
fictionalized (!) version of a chunk of D's life which has a parallel  
in Coetzee's life.   Coetzee is a terrific stylist and very  
imaginative - especially with his more recent metafiction.

Just thought I'd share this

Bekah
a preterite in the Quartet


On Aug 15, 2008, at 1:46 PM, Lawrence Bryan wrote:

>
> Sounds good to me, but I'm intimidated by the erudition shown by so  
> many list members; a bit like an amateur violinist invited to play  
> with the Julliard Quartet. So I'd prefer to listen/read.
>
> I'm not sure why I like Coetzee so much. On the other hand I'm not  
> sure that it is important to me to answer that why. But if pressed,  
> I suppose his approach to the human condition strikes an empathetic  
> nerve within me on a very personal level. TRP is external,  
> national, global, universal. Coetzee deeply inward. I like looking  
> both ways, and the view is very satisfying either direction.
>
> Lawrence
>
> On Aug 15, 2008, at 12:27 PM, Richard Ryan wrote:
>
>> There were several list members who expressed enthusiasm for  
>> Coetzee's Master of Petersburg as a quick "NP" read before we  
>> start off with "V" or "Vineland."  I've begun reading it - and can  
>> report that it's beautifully written (as one would expect of JMC),  
>> and a vivid re-imagining of a great figure in the history of world  
>> literature.  Fun for the entire list, in other words....
>>
>> If there is still sufficient interest - and no widespread  
>> objections - I can start off a MoP reading in a week or two -  
>> whenever the AtD readers feel that they've had ample time to wrap  
>> things up.  Conveniently, MoP is divided into twenty chapters - so  
>> if we had, say, four other hosts we could each take four chapters  
>> and get through the book in about four weeks (give or take a week  
>> or so depending on how interested and involved the audience was.)
>>
>> Thoughts?
>> RR
>