J.M. Coetzee's "In the Heart of the Country" Book Review by Dante885
J.M. Coetzee's "In the Heart of the Country"
Reviews J.M. Coetzee's novel "In the Heart of the Country" that explores racism and class in South Africa.
# 152158
| 775 words
| 2 sources
| APA
| 2013
| 
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Description:
This paper explains that J.M. Coetzee, a white South African writer, in his 1977 novel "In the Heart of the Country" writes about a ferocious relationship between the protagonist Magda and her callous father. The paper further explains that Magda's first person narrative voice tells the reader how she killed and buried her father; however, this turns out to be a fantasy with her father's reappearance at the end of the story. According to the paper, with this unreliable narrator, whether on literal grounds or from the perspective of a writing style, the reader must piece together the events in the plot; thereby, every interpretation builds itself around the reader's imagination.
From the Paper:
"A major conflict between Magda and her callous father ignites when he begins a relationship with an African woman. Besides her father's ignorance towards her, his servants scorn and fear her. She lives almost an isolated life from slight interaction with humans. This leads her to have a different perspective of life; her life takes the course of her slated seldom exchanges she had mustered. She turns out to be a vicious brainy woman whose outward docility masquerades a distressed firmness not to be one neglected in antiquity. Since depression and incoherent thoughts are part of her, her sanity gets in place by the affirmative conversations between her and Klein-Anna, Hendrik or her father. The feelings of seclusion that she has are amplified further by a number of impolite words in the novel. Hand in hand, a favourable standpoint on the country and sanguine plans for her life surface by a natural chat. In this scenario, Magda bases the fluctuation of her attitude towards her life on the nature of communication that transpires between her, Klein-Anna, Hendrik, and her father. Father's regards turn out to be the most influencing her subsequent moods. Her resentment eventually leads to reprisal, ferocity, and the distortion of her relations with Africans."Sample of Sources Used:
- Coetzee, J.M. (1977). In the heart of the country. Penguin Publishers.
- Derek, A. (2004). Ethical modernism: Servants as others in J.M. Coetzee's early fiction. Poetics Today, 25(4), 653-671.
Cite this Book Review:
APA Format
J.M. Coetzee's "In the Heart of the Country" (2013, January 07)
Retrieved May 28, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/book-review/j-m-coetzee-in-the-heart-of-the-country-152158/
MLA Format
"J.M. Coetzee's "In the Heart of the Country"" 07 January 2013.
Web. 28 May. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/book-review/j-m-coetzee-in-the-heart-of-the-country-152158/>