Diary of a Bad Year by J. M.

Coetzee
A Pessimistic Quietistic Anarchist
An ingenious new work of fiction from the Nobel Prize– winning author of Disgrace
J . M. Coetzee once again breaks literary ground with Diary of a Bad Year, a boo
k that is, in the words of its protagonist, ―a response to the present in which I
find myself. Aging author Senor C has been commissioned to write a series of essa
ys entitled ―Strong Opinions, of which he has many. After hiring a beautiful young
typist named Anya, the two embark on a relationship that will have a profound im
pact on them both — especially when Alan, Anya’s no-good boyfriend, develops designs
on Senor C’s bank account. Told in these three voices simultaneously, Coetzee has
created any entirely new way of telling a story, and nothing less than an ―involv
ing, argumentative, moving novel (The New Yorker).
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Personal Review: Diary of a Bad Year by J. M. Coetzee
In this highly original three-dimensional book, J.M. Coetzee voices his strong o
pinions on shame and apology as well as on his moral indignation against all kin
ds of violence (political, economical, social, personal, physical). The Machiave
llian State uses physical (torture) as well as social violence by attacking or a
bolishing civil liberties. The latest legislation in the US, the UK and Australi
a imposes drastic restrictions on freedom of speech and surveillance of the enti
re world s telephonic and electronic communications. Those legislators should be
`ashamed and `apology for their crimes against humanity. But, to the contrary
, they consider that they cannot commit a crime, since they are the ones who def
ine crime. He gives strong comments on sex violence (pedophilia) and violence ag
ainst minorities and animals. He sees a pure free market economy as the battle o
f all against all, as a `dog-eats-dog ideology. Withdrawing funds for free inde
pendent research in universities is a form of intellectual violence. His reflect
ions on violence include also comments on authors like Dostoevsky and Faulkner.
Confronted by a hostile world and a bad year, the pessimistic anarchist finds hi
s ultimate nirvana in art (J.S. Bach, Tolstoy, the classics, photography). I fou
nd however two strong caveats in this book. J. M. Coetzee writes: `Western scien
ce ... arguing that what canno t be demonstrated scientifically to be true ... c
annot be true ... by any standard that counts. This is not correct. There is no
necessary link between science and truth. Truth is correspondence with the fact
s (A. Tarski). There are scientific, as well as musical (Did Beethoven write sym
phonies?), forensic (Did he rape her?) or any other kind of truths. J.M. Coetzee
writes: `As long as there is not one of us who has the faintest idea of how to
go about constructing a housefly from scratch, how can we disparage as intellect
ually naïve the conclusion that the housefly must have been put together by an int
elligence. (Intelligent Design). This seems to be the same argument used by Sub
dean William Paley in his `Natural Theology to prove the existence of God.
But that is not the crucial point. As a US judge decided in a famous trial: I.D.
is religion. I.D. is part of a counterattack by the second Estate (the clergy)
and its powerful allies against those who shred its ideology and concomitantly i
ts power base into pulp. I.D. is backed by the wealthy few and the political Rig
ht and used as a weapon in the power struggle for political, financial, energy a
nd other `real stuff. Richard Dawkins s `The Blind Watchmaker remains an essen
tial read. Taking to heart G. Lukacz s words that `one s first duty as a writer
is to express social and historical processes , J.M. Coetzee continues to tackle
head-on the essential problems and also the possible enjoyments of our modern s
ociety. He should be an example for all living authors. Highly recommended.
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