Saturday, August 25, 2012

J.M. Coetzee: DISGRACE

The session began with a presentation by Maren of the blog she has been setting up to serve as our public vitrine and – possibly – a members-only communication tool: www.bookclubdeparis.blogspot.com.

We then moved on to a discussion of J.M. Coetzee’s DISGRACE. This book choice was universally applauded: apparently we all felt, from the first page, that we were in the hands of a master. Discussion ranged widely. How about using our blog’s comments function to complete and fill out the elements noted below?
  • Elegant storytelling: how much information Coetzee packs into just the first sentence (“For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well.”)!
  • Pragmatism and morality: this is what will happen vs. this is what should happen
  • The quixotic fixations of David and Lucy, he on his erotic infatuation, she on the land
  • David’s refusal to confess himself to the disciplinary committee, Lucy’s refusal to report her rape
  • David’s apology, upon his return, to Melanie’s family – why not to Melanie?
  • Melanie’s rape, Lucy’s rape
  • David’s decision, at the end of the book, that Driepoot’s time has come: compassion or despair?
Rather than including the schedule of future meetings and book selection responsibilities, I direct you to the Agenda tab of our blog!
Phoebe

3 comments:

  1. My goodness, Maren, you're efficient!

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  2. Easy! Once the way of working is set up, it's really easy to keep the blog updated! Hope on many posts... ;-)

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  3. Come on, people ...

    ReplyDelete