My name is Karla and I am setting up this blog in hopes of better appreciating the issues that J. M. Coetzee presents in his novels. The first time I read his work was in an undergraduate class and it made me realize that I had to leave a certain comfort zone to truly understand the issues he dealt with in Disgrace.
At twenty I had begun to finally think of myself as an adult only to realize that my view on life was completely distorted, that I led a sheltered life and had never really given thought to many of the things that Coetzee dealt with in his book. One of the issues he dealt with in his novel was the sexuality of the mature man, and this was as one would say colloquially "thrown in my face." It shattered the image I have had of male authority figures up to that point. The main character's disastrous relationship with females made me lose a little more hope in that illusive concept that we call love, and made me question the ties that bind a daughter and a father. Moreover, I realized that racial violence and discrimination were very much still around today, and that without realizing in some way I had made it part of my everyday life. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that I had found even the faintest glimmer of racism in my self while I had been constantly asking for equality.
I am hoping that Coetzee will push my limits again, help me discover new things about literature as well as myself, and I hope to take in as much of what he has to say and incorporate it into my own creative writing.
For now I will leave you my audience with a smile on your face, hopefully. Please enjoy Makmende!
(EDITED: September 27, 2011 12:33 to be double spaced)
At twenty I had begun to finally think of myself as an adult only to realize that my view on life was completely distorted, that I led a sheltered life and had never really given thought to many of the things that Coetzee dealt with in his book. One of the issues he dealt with in his novel was the sexuality of the mature man, and this was as one would say colloquially "thrown in my face." It shattered the image I have had of male authority figures up to that point. The main character's disastrous relationship with females made me lose a little more hope in that illusive concept that we call love, and made me question the ties that bind a daughter and a father. Moreover, I realized that racial violence and discrimination were very much still around today, and that without realizing in some way I had made it part of my everyday life. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that I had found even the faintest glimmer of racism in my self while I had been constantly asking for equality.
I am hoping that Coetzee will push my limits again, help me discover new things about literature as well as myself, and I hope to take in as much of what he has to say and incorporate it into my own creative writing.
For now I will leave you my audience with a smile on your face, hopefully. Please enjoy Makmende!
(EDITED: September 27, 2011 12:33 to be double spaced)
