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A review by sidharthvardhan
Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee
5.0
Elizabeth Costello is Coetzee's alter ego. And for most of the book, she is giving her opinions on different subjects- realism, women's voice in novels, violence against animals, African novel, Humanity's future - a study in Christ's cross vs Mary's breasts (Mary's breasts won), nature of evil, the impact a book on an evil subject can have on people, mechanics involved when Gods had sex with humans (I like the way this woman thinks) etc. S0me of these are given as lectures, the content of which is borrowed from actual lectures Coetzee gave. The most important subject is animal violence but i have already discussed it.
Another interesting subject is influence a book on an 'evil' subject can have on its writer. Can a writer or reader come out scratched? Most people considered Costello's fears baseless. But 2012 Auror shootings seems to prove that such fears are groundless, but the trouble is letting the fears rule one often leads to bad choices, in this case, it might result in some people calling for censorships when all one needs to use a bit of caution.
Anyway, the last part is where Costello, now dead, finds herself on the threshold of world beyond and denied entry because she has kept refusing to ever have any kind of belief - showing that she saw herself as divorced from things she believed in. The part is heavily inspired from Kafka. Anyone wanting to read it shall do well to read Kafka's short stories'Before the law' and 'A Report to the academy'.
Another interesting subject is influence a book on an 'evil' subject can have on its writer. Can a writer or reader come out scratched? Most people considered Costello's fears baseless. But 2012 Auror shootings seems to prove that such fears are groundless, but the trouble is letting the fears rule one often leads to bad choices, in this case, it might result in some people calling for censorships when all one needs to use a bit of caution.
Anyway, the last part is where Costello, now dead, finds herself on the threshold of world beyond and denied entry because she has kept refusing to ever have any kind of belief - showing that she saw herself as divorced from things she believed in. The part is heavily inspired from Kafka. Anyone wanting to read it shall do well to read Kafka's short stories'Before the law' and 'A Report to the academy'.