J. M. Coetzee and the Life of Writing: Face-to-face with Time

272 Pages·2016·17.331 MB·English

by  David Attwell

T.M. COETZEE AND
THE LIFE OF WRITING

T.M. COETZEE AND
THE LIFE OF WRITING
Face-to-Face with Time
David Attwell
BM0697354
VIKING
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First published in South Africa by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
The author gratefully acknowledges the permission given to quote excerpts from the follow
ing works: Waiting for the Barbarians, c 1980 by J.M. Coetzee; In the Heart of the Country, c
1976, 1977 by J.M. Coetzee; and Dusklands, cl974, 1982 by J.M. Coetzee. Used by permission
of Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random
House LLC Life & Times of Michael K, c 1983 by J.M. Coetzee; Foe, c 1986 by J.M. Coetzee; The
Master ofP etersburg, c 1994 by J.M. Coetzee; Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life, c 1997 by J.M.
Coetzee; Disgrace, c 1999 by J.M. Coetzee; Elizabeth Castello, c 2003 by J.M. Coetzee; Youth, c
2002 by J.M. Coetzee; Diary of a Bad Year, c 2007 by J.M. Coetzee; Summertime: Fiction, c 2009
by J.M. Coetzee; Slow Man, c 2005 by J.M. Coetzee; Here and Now: Letters (2008-2011), c 2013
by Paul Auster and c 2013 by J.M. Coetzee. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of
Penguin Publishing Group, a division ofPenguin Random House LLC Age ofI ron, c1990 by J.M.
Coetzee and Stranger Shores: Literary Essays, 1986-1999, c 2001 by J.M. Coetzee, reproduced by
permission of Peter Lampack Agency, Ine. Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship, reproduced by
permission of the University of Chicago Press c 1996 by the University of Chicago. Doubling the
Point: Essays and Interviews, by J.M. Coetzee, edited by David Attwell, pp. 59-60,142,248,250,
298, 299, 363, 391, 393-4, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Copyright c 1992 by
the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Ali illustrations and quotations from the Coetzee
manuscripts, with kind permission of J.M. Coetzee and the Harry Ransom Center, University of
Texas at Austin. Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes, translated by Richard Howard; translation
copyright c 1977 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang,
a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC Robert Duncan, "The Song of the Border-GuardI!
c Jess Collins Trust.
ISBN 978-0-525-42961-6
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Set in Minion Pro
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Chronology xi
Preface: The Coetzee Papers xvii
l. An alphabet of trees: Autobiography - The uses
of impersonality 1
2. Recusant Afrikaners: Identity drift Il
3. 1 January 1970: The beginning - Dusklands 25
4. Karoo: The beloved landscape - Life & Times of
Michael K, In the Heart of the Country 40
5. 'The Burning of the Books': Censorship in
the life of writing 55
6. Writing revolution - Waitingfor the Barbarians SI
7. Suburban bandit: Michael K as outlaw 105
S. Crusoe, Defoe, Friday - Foe 124
9. Mother - Age of Iron 137
10. Father - Summertime 153
Il. The Shot Tower - The Master of Petersburg 163
J.M. COETZEE AND THE LIFE OF WRITING
12. Migrations: Irreconcilable lives - Elizabeth Castello,
Disgrace 187
13. The third stage: Australia - Slow Man, Diary of a
Bad Year, The Childhood ofJ esus 209
Notes 223
Bibliography 239
Index 243
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENrrs
My FIRST DEBT of thanks is owed to the Leverhulme Trust in the United
Kingdom, which provided respite from the day-to-day business of
academic life in the form of a research fellowship. Thanks are also
due to the Department of English at the University of Stockholm,
which provided a visiting professorship close to the glories of the
Swedish Academy and Nobel Library, and the Stellenbosch Institute
for Advanced Studies (STIAS), whose hospitality brought me to the
heartlands of Cape Town and the Karoo du ring the early months of
conceptualizing the project.
Through the good offices ofWium van Zyl and Anton Kannemeyer,
l was also able to consult John Kannemeyer's papers in Stellenbosch. It
is tragic that John Kannemeyer died so soon after completing the first
biography of J.M. Coetzee. He deserved to see the fruits of his labours
and the positive influence he has had on Coetzee studies. He and l
met twice and corresponded frequently as he worked on his project
in the last three years of his life, and l am grateful for his courtesy and
friendship dur ing this period. While in Stellenbosch l also received
personal support from Hannes van Zyl, John Kannemeyer's editor, for
which l am very grateful.
Colleagues oid and new have enabled me to give parts of this work
an airing at the universities of Adelaide, Cape Town, Stellenbosch,
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J.M. COETZEE AND THE LIFE OF WRITING
Giessen, Stockholm, Verona and York, Queen Mary, University of
London, Rhodes University and the Norwegian Literary Festival in
Lillehammer. In Adelaide, my sincere thanks to John Coetzee and
Dorothy Driver for their hospitality, and to Nick Jose and Brian Castro
of the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice for their interest and
encouragement, not to mention the invitation to return. In Cape
Town, the Centre for Open Learning and the Coetzee Collective led
by CarroI Clarkson have been consistently generous during several
visits over the past five years.
The staff of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas
at Austin went out of their way by making special arrangements to
place parts of the Coetzee archive in the public domain earlier than
expected. My thanks to Tom Staley, Megan Barnard, Gabby Redwine,
Micah Erwin, Rick Watson and Jen Tisdale for their hospitality and
professionalism during two visits to Austin in 2011 and 2012. Bernth
and Judith Lindfors made these visits to Austin a real homecoming.
Friends and colleagues have endured my conversation or read
and commented on this work, either in part or in sorne cases on the
entire manuscript. 1 am immensely grateful to aIl of them and have
freely made use of their suggestions: Derek Attridge, Rita Barnard,
Elleke Boehmer, Christoph Buchwald, CarroI Clarkson, Eva Cossee,
Jonathan Crewe, Dorothy Driver, Laura Emsley, Patrick Flanery, Ian
Glenn, lrina Rasmussen Goloubeva, Lucy Graham, Michael Green,
Hugh Haughton, Stefan Helgesson, Evi Hoste, Shawn Irlam, Michelle
Kelly, Rob Nixon, Annalisa Pes, Hedley Twidle, Andrew van der
VUes, Geoffrey Wall, Hermann Wittenberg and Susanna Zinato. At
an early stage, Kai Easton was immensely generous in sharing sorne
of her research in the Coetzee papers. 1 am grateful for her help and
collegiality throughout the writing of this book. Chabani Manganyi
read early efforts and asked usefully sharp questions, such as 'Who
in Coetzee is Dostoevsky?' Finuala Dowling lent a novelist's eye to a
number of draft chapters, helping me to see the material more clearly
as a writer would do. Paul Wise provided expert editorial guidance at
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
a crucial stage of the manuscript's development. My sincere thanks to
Russell Martin at Jacana Media, for his practical help and guidance
and his insightful copyediting of the final manuscript.
At York l am fortunate to be in unusually collegial company. Sincere
thanks to my colleagues for their interest in this project and for their
support in making it possible for me to take up the fellowship. Derek
Attridge, in particular, has been unstinting in his support and l have
frequently had to rely on his good counsel.
Finally, l would like to thank John Coetzee, for his conversation,
his help in enabling me to gain access to the papers, his willingness ta
grant permission for me to quote from them, and, most importantly,
his forbearance over the results. To his many deserved accolades l
would add another, for courage und er fire.
Early versions of sorne of this material have been published in
Ex-centric Writing: Essays on Madness in Postcolonial Fiction, ed. by
Susanna Zinato and Annalisa Pes (Cambridge Scholars, 2013); in an
issue of the journalLife Writing (vol. Il, no. 2,2014); andin Norwegian
translation in Bokvennen Litterœrt Magasin (no. 3,2013).
ix