A review by libraryofcalliope
Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee

3.0

This book would have got a much higher rating from me if two chapters of it had been removed. This novel expertly treads the line between a fiction and a work of philosophy, complicating the distinction between the two. He uses the character of Elizabeth Costello to interrogate the role authors play in academia and society but also about their own relationships to their books. Each chapter is more like an essay disguised as prose (or should that be the other way around?) and it’s an interesting book in how it deals with its discussions. What I liked was when I thought an idea from the second chapter was problematically unchallenged, my exact criticism came up later, using the novel’s classic narrative structure of consequences. I really liked this. Unfortunately there were two chapters that were textbook men awkwardly writing women. If they had been taken out this book would have been substantially better. While he does address the concept of a female author writing a male character and how one cannot step outside of their own experiences even in fiction, I don’t think I can excuse the awkward sexual elements in the name of proving this point. Women don’t exist to cheer up a dying man by showing them their breasts. It was uncomfortable and confused. That being said this was very interesting and I look forward to discussing it in class.