Sobriquet 49.22

Well, having finished The Rights of Desire a few days earlier than I anticipated (I gave myself, unofficially, very light reading assignments while I visited family over the holiday break), I began re-reading Disgrace, largely because I'd left the critical notes and quotes I have yet to transcribe in my office with my other, less-portable dissertation materials.

At any rate, this is at least the fourth or fifth time I've read the novel and, happily, I enjoy it as much as ever. I do find it a bit strange re-reading the book after having spent so much time reading the criticism on it because, since I have seen so many passages from the book cited and dissected by critics, my mind constantly bounces between the pleasurable act of reading a novel I enjoy a great deal and the critical discussions inspired by a given bit of prose. It is helpful, though, as I have been taking notes and making comments I hadn't necessarily thought the first few times through the text.

I also read Brooke Allen's brief discussion of Disgrace in The New Leader. Taking a somewhat "standard" view of the novel, Allen proposes that we read the novel as an allegory of the aging white figure in a new, multiracial South Africa that "has consigned David [and, presumably, the class of people of which he is a part] to the trash can." Though the essay is largely a summary of the plot, Allen does provide several interesting insights into the book, especially in relation to David's strained bond with his daughter.

For tomorrow: Transcribe or read.

Work Cited

Allen Brooke. "Unravelling a Historical Moment." Rev. of Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee. The New Leader 13 Dec. 1999. 27-28.