Disgrace by J M Coetzee

Coetzee’s novel Disgrace is about power in post-apartheid South Africa. As a device to explore this theme, Coetzee creates two situations involving rape. The central character, David Lurie, commits a rape in having sex with his student lover on one occasion when she really didn’t want to. This seemingly mild indiscretion, whilst not putting Lurie on charges of rape, non-the-less denies him his job and makes him a social outcast. Contrast this with the gang rape of his daughter, which Lurie if forced to listen to but is powerless to prevent whilst he is set on fire and locked in the toilet. The three black Africans who commit this rape get off scot-free. Moreover, Lucy, the daughter, comes to accept the change in power that is occurring and finds a compromise for her life by agreeing to marry the uncle, Petrus, of the youngest rapist, Pollux, who is the possible father of her child.

The power of this novel is that this seemingly unlikely story is rendered perfectly plausible by Coetzee’s brilliant hand. Lucy’s acceptance of her demise and her father’s failure to come top terms with the situation perfectly characterise the dilemma that is South Africa in this breathtaking allegory. This is the rape and pillage of Vikings brought to the 21^st century. In this case black South Africans reclaiming power and ownership, not only of their lands, but of the people in them.

Trevor Smith Sept 2005

Links

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v21/n20/lowr01_.html