My book club read Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee this month. It was interesting, if somewhat depressing. The story is that of a professor in Cape Town, South Africa who leaves his post in disgrace after an affair with a student comes to light.
It was interesting because I have been to the areas that are the settings for the story and I enjoyed seeing them as the setting for a novel. It was depressing because it brought to mind all the uncomfortable feelings I had while there.
Don't get me wrong, South Africa is a beautiful place and the people there (for the most part) were lovely people. I had a great time there. The racial tension (even this long after the fall of apartheid) was palpable and it made me uncomfortable to watch things happen blatantly that haven't been acceptable in the US since the sixties.
It was clear to me from the beginning that the novel was meant to be an allegory of the state of South Africa race relations since the de Klerk government ended apartheid and fell to the government of Nelson Mandela. Tonight's discussion should be a good one.
Wherever you are today, I hope that your day is a good one.
Don Bergquist - November 19, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA
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