TMOP: Chapter 7

[Mark Kohut]

Is Coetzee suggesting that a writer, at least D., a writer like Dostoevsky
exploring 'evil' in society, PARTAKES of some of that evil by opening himself to "knowing" it? 


--- On Fri, 10/10/08, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: TMOP: Chapter 7
> To: "Bekah" <Bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: "Richard Ryan" <richardryannyc at yahoo.com>, "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, October 10, 2008, 11:31 AM
> I think that this "a refusal to accept limits to what
> he is permitted
> to know" is at the very heart of this book.  And by
> "know," I think
> the verbs "act," "experience,"
> "think" etc, can be added.  D. is
> actively seeking out experiences to consume and thoughts to
> stretch
> his mind, even to the brink of madness.  The catalyst for
> this out of
> all bounds behavior is Pavel's death, and it is
> associated with D.'s
> writing because EVERYTHING D explores is potential grist
> for his
> writing.  D knows this is a selfish but necessary aspect of
> his art.
> And he uses this self-granted liberty as a ticket to almost
> any
> bad-behavior he desires.  He is in some ways exploiting
> Pavel's death,
> as well as everyone else in his vicinity.  It is a common
> thing for
> people in the community of a writer to finds themselves
> written as
> characters in that writer's fiction, and often the
> subjects feel
> violated, and rightly so.
> 
> David Morris
> 
> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 12:50 AM, Bekah
> <Bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:>>
> >>  [ page 71 He enjoys sneaking and spying,  "a
> weakness that he has associated till now with a refusal to
> accept limits to what he is permitted to know, with the
> reading of forbidden books, and thus with his vocation. 
> Today ... he is in thrall to a spirit of petty evil ...
> gives him a voluptuous quiver of pleasure."  ]
> >>
> >> * Writing is associated with snooping?   (Yes,
> I've always thought so.)