J.M. Coetzee: Waiting For The Barbarians

[Heteronym]

My first introduction to J.M. Coetzee?s literary world couldn?t have gone smoother. In less than 200 pages and in clear and straightforward prose he builds a world that contains the best and worst of Mankind. One can easily detect an allegory for the South African Apartheid in the relationship between the citizens of the civilized Empire and the barbarians who live in the desert on its border. But like in any great novel, the action moves outside the personal sphere of the author and acquires a universal character. One can see in it a condemnation of any culture of empire or civilization that treats outsiders as inferior because of their race or cultural beliefs or way of life, and that justifies hatred and aggression against those outsiders on the basis of such differences. And if I hadn?t known Coetzee wrote this back in 1980, I?d have called this a post-9/11 world allegory.

We follow the Magistrate, an old man who has run the administrative affairs of the village for decades in a care-free and even lazy manner. He doesn?t worry about the barbarians, fishers and hunters mostly, who come to the village for trade; in fact he sympathizes with them and deplores the way the villagers cheat these ignorant people who are not used to business.

The arrival of Colonel Jodl marks the end of the Magistrate?s peace. The Colonel has simple orders: capture barbarians and gather information about an imminent attack. This means kidnapping innocent people, imprisoning them without just cause and torturing them. The safety of the Empire justifies this.

One of the tortured barbarians is a young woman who is left blind and hobbling; to save her from begging, the Magistrate makes her his maid, and soon falls in love with her. But a cultural wall stands between them so he leads her back to the desert, to her own people. When he returns he?s branded a traitor and endures the tortures and public humiliation applied to the barbarians.

Three things stood out for me in this novel: first, I loved how Coetzee showed that the relationship between the village and the barbarians was peaceful, if always based on inequality, until the army arrived and started making everyone paranoid with the threat of an impeding invasion.

Secondly, he demonstrates how the villagers are also barbarians by the way they treat the prisoners, which goes beyond torture and includes public floggings in which the citizens are invited to participate. Normal people can easily become monsters and we should never forget that.

Finally, the soldiers completely ravage the village they were supposed to protect: they rape people, loot stores, destroy crops. And then leave when their position becomes untenable. I love how the village?s destruction comes from within, from its own paranoia. The village then seeks guidance from the disgraced Magistrate who, after being tortured and ridiculed by his own people, leads them into a state of subsistence that gives hope for a new life. For all its faults, Coetzee doesn?t give up on Mankind, and his belief in a better world shines throughout this marvelous book.

 

[Igu Soni]

My first introduction to J.M. Coetzee?s literary world couldn?t have gone smoother.

This was my first introduction too, and the book that got me hooked to literary fiction.

And if I hadn?t known Coetzee wrote this back in 1980, I?d have called this a post-9/11 world allegory.

I don't remember where I read this, but this book was turned into a musical which was said to have heavy 9/11 overtones.

falls in love with her.

Funny, I thought his treatment of her was only repentance, and had no real feelings behind it.

All in all, well said Heteronym.

 

[Heteronym]

Repentance played a role in it, of course. The way the soldiers treated the barbarians left the Magistrate ashamed. He wanted to remedy in a way the damaged they caused. But his thoughts about her after returning her to her people, show he misses her. I do believe he loved her, but like I said, there was a barrier between them that couldn't be transposed: race, culture, even class. Their relationship could never be even.

 

[Daniel del Real]

This was my first introduction too, and the book that got me hooked to literary fiction.

Same situation here, it seems you can't go wrong with Waiting for the Barbarians as Coetzee's introduction.

 

[SlowRain]

This, too, was my introduction to Coetzee. Unfortunately, it hasn't motivated me to read anything else by him.

To be fair, I think it's a great story. I mean that seriously. I like the ideas in the novel and the reasoning behind them, as well as the events. What disappointed me was the narrative and the flow of the story. There really wasn't much there. The novel spans about a year, if I remember correctly. There are parts where the narrative is very broad and moving through weeks with just a few paragraphs, then it will zoom in and focus on a few weeks or days in a disproportionate way. Other authors can do it smoothly, I felt like I was being jerked back and forth in Coetzee's narrative. And, for all that's said about him--you know, Nobel prize and all--I didn't find anything captivating about his language.

I loved the story, but was disappointed by the writing. It's sacrilegious to say, but I would probably like a movie of this novel better as I don't think anything would be lost by not having Coetzee's words.

There was one point that people could help me with, though. It's been a while since I read it, but I remember a dream sequence that puzzled me. It had something to do with snow and bread. Does that sound familiar, or am I getting something mixed up? I didn't understand what that was all about. I could use a little help understanding that part.

Thanks.

 

[Liam]

I don't remember where I read this, but this book was turned into a musical which was said to have heavy 9/11 overtones.

Yes, by the incomparable minimalist composer Philip Glass, no less.

You can listen to some samples here (not sure if you have to be an Amazon customer in order to do that).

My own first "foray" into Coetzee was Disgrace, followed by Elizabeth Costello, Slow Man, and only THEN, Waiting for the Barbarians.

I like most of his work, but not too much. His language is too sparse for my liking, although I do believe that his Nobel was well-deserved.

The last chapter of Elizabeth Costello is probably the most beautiful and heartbreaking thing he ever wrote.

 

[learna]

I think to write about Coetzee's books is lowly employment because the writer himself explains everythind perfectly and in details. I like his loconical style that reflects simple important things of the life that touches our nerve centers deeply.
I read "Waiting for the Barbarians' after "Life & Times of Michael K" and it obstructed a little, considering that I had liked "Life..." from the begining a lot and read it withing a day. I opened of Coetzee's style reading the first book and we "can not enter the same reaver twice"( I mean the first impression) and wanted or not I compared two books all the time.
My impression from reading "Waiting for the Barbarians" was not smooth and changed during reading.
At first the idea of relationship between the Magistrate and the girl looked like the relationship between aged Humbert and grown up Lolita but then it became deeper. And the plot itself is not straight and clean in some aspects but that is explained by the character of the main hero: he was like a child, naive and not steady in many aspects but who tries to be honest with himself and the world. So the text follows the researches that the Magistrate does looking into his soul. And the last sentence of the novel explains the obscure manner of the whole novel. And the second reason is that Coetzee raised a lot of question: the contradiction between nature life and Empire, sense of guilt, why peole can loose their believes and pride...

And what I'd like to add is a question that Coetzee asked: "Who were the barbarians?"

 

[lenz]

At first the idea of relationship between the Magistrate and the girl looked like the relationship between aged Humbert and growed up Lolita but then it became deeper. And the plot itself is not straight and clean in some aspects but that is explained by the character of the main hero: he was like a child, naive and not steady in many aspects but who tries to be honest with himself and the world.

I agree with you, Learna, that Barbarians is not easy to read as the narrative is not "smooth" in tone and events change quickly. The Magistrate is the protagonist but not a real hero, he is a naive man content with his quiet life and unprepared for the monstrous invasion of the army he is supposed to trust and support.

I do see the relationship between the girl as something like Humbert and Lolita, except Lolita is (I think) pure fantasy, while the "barbarian" girl is not a dream girl who acts automatically according to the narrator's whim but reluctantly accepts her position as mistress, since she has no other way to live. The Magistrate seems at times to value his sex drive over everything else which, I suppose, makes him a sort of unreasoning self-centered barbarian. His return of the girl to her people recalls to me the Iliad and what I've always thought would have put an end to the Trojan War: Someone should take Helen away from childish Parish and give her back to the Greeks! - so simple.

So the text follows the researches that the Magistrate does looking into his soul. And the last sentence of the novel explains the obscure manner of the whole novel. And the second reason is that Coetzee raised a lot of question: the contradiction between nature life and Empire, sense of guilt, why peole can loose their believes and pride...

And what I'd like to add is a question that Coetzee asked: "Who were the barbarians?"

That's it, Learna, that's what makes the novel great.

 

[learna]

The Magistrate is the protagonist but not a real hero, he is a naive man content with his quiet life and unprepared for the monstrous invasion of the army he is supposed to trust and support

Lenz, I made a word-for-word translation ( "main hero" ), I meant "protagonist".

His return of the girl to her people recalls to me the Iliad and what I've always thought would have put an end to the Trojan War: Someone should take Helen away from childish Parish and give her back to the Greeks! - so simple.

Very interesing. But in Coetzee's story the Magistrate do it himself, nobody demanded of her returning ( and here we can say that he is a hero ).

...the novel great.

Agree.