Nobels: 2003: J M Coetzee

In a parallel universe I am doing a blog about Booker prize winners and this is where those two universes meet. J M Coetzee won the Nobel in 2003 and the book of his that I have been reading, Disgrace, won the Booker in 1999.

It's a relatively conventional narrative - certainly in comparison with Jelinek - about an aging South African teacher of literature, whose life takes a turn for the worse when he seduces one of his students. At one stage his employment status is reduced to that of dead dog disposal man. At the same time, though, he achieves some kind of redemption, but it's not as pat or simplistic as that may sound (or would be, in the hands of a less honest writer).

The technical accomplishment of the book - the sheer dexterity of the writing and the development of the story, the pacing, the dialogue - is stunning. Coetzee was clearly in total command of his craft when he wrote this.

What's more difficult is the moral, even political infrastructure. The hero, David Lurie, isn't a particularly endearing character (he isn't meant to be). His sexual drive is unflatteringly depicted and there's a strong hint of incestuous guilt about his relationship with the student. And while the book is ostensibly about his out-of-placeness in an evolving South Africa - he has an entirely European frame of cultural reference, knows virtually no Xhosa - I found it more engaging on the conflict between generations. His daughter feels more at home in an African South Africa than he does, in spite of what happens. He's so flawed that, although you can sympathise with his feelings of loss, you also have to doubt the value of his world as it was.

It isn't comfortable or comforting, however, but the best books aren't. For the sheer quality of the writing I'd recommend Coetzee and may one day read more by him. But next up for me is a writer I (and you, I bet) had never heard of.