It’s that magical time of life again: JM Coetzee has published a new book! And not only that: as a bonus the same publisher has also released Here and Now, a book of letters that Coetzee exchanged with friend Paul Auster between 2008 and 2011, which adds an interesting dimension to the manner in which one reads and understands this South African author.
It’s that magical time of life again: JM Coetzee has published a new book! And not only that: as a bonus the same publisher has also released Here and Now, a book of letters that Coetzee exchanged with friend Paul Auster between 2008 and 2011, which adds an interesting dimension to the manner in which one reads and understands this South African author.
Some of the ideas that Auster and Coetzee kick around in their correspondence seem to make an appearance in the latter's new novel, to a lesser or greater degree: for example, discussions on sports or the meaning (or non-meaning) of numbers.
Nevertheless, the thing that really struck me was how the tone in Coetzee’s personal letters is so easy to recognise in his fiction. It's as if the person behind the works that I so admire shines right through, and very sympathetically so. And contrary to my prejudices against linking the author to their work, there is actually no reason to be so fearful. So much for personal revelations: let me not disgress further, but tell you why you should read this new novel.
Coming from what seems to be an old dying continent to which there is no return, a man and a young boy walk off a ship into a new, Spanish-speaking world. They are processed and given new names: Simon and David. Everything in their new world seems set up to accommodate at least the basic needs of the new arrivals, and there is no evidence of an indigenous population that could throw a spanner in the works.
As Simon and David settle in we learn that although the two have been more-or-less brainwashed of any remembrance of their past. They do know any more than that they are not related; Simon simply took it upon himself to help the little boy to find his mother somewhere in this vast land where people no longer are who they were. A futile task if there ever was one, as not even David remembers what his mother looked like, nor her original name.
But Simon still perseveres against his own reasoning, hoping to rely on intuition. And it pays off as he finally finds the woman he was looking for, but she seems most unsuitable for the task, although she takes it on. What follows is both frightening and irreversible. It seems to have been preordained, somehow. Things are out of control as much as they are in real life. Is David special or is he simply spoilt? Is he innovative or mad? Is there some kind of redemption at the end of it all?
It's up to you: either you believe or you don’t. Life will take you anyhow.
