Ever since it was first published in 1999, Nobel
laureate J. M. Coetzee's novel Disgrace has provoked
controversy. Set in post-apartheid South Africa, it
follows Prof. David Lurie as he encounters disgrace
through his sexual exploitation of a student and then
through the shocking gang-rape of his only daughter. The
novel's uncompromising portrayal of the "new" South
Africa outraged many, who found the book regressive,
even racist. It also challenged readers worldwide to
confront its hard questions. This first book of essays
devoted to the novel ambitiously brings together
criticism and pedagogy. The ten critical essays and
eight essays on teaching Disgrace grapple with the
ethical issues the novel so provocatively raises: rape,
gender, race, animal rights. Disgrace is widely taught
in colleges and universities and read in book clubs; the
debates it has given rise to will take on fresh life
with the release of the upcoming film starring John
Malkovich. Unusually, the eighteen contributors to the
collection are all faculty members or graduates of the
same institution, the Johnston Center for Integrative
Studies at the University of Redlands, and have worked
together closely in crafting their essays over the past
two years. The volume will be exceptionally useful to
teachers of literature, philosophy, and South African
culture, to book club leaders, and to all readers of
Coetzee. Contributors: Nancy Best, James Boobar, Bradley
Butterfield, Jane Creighton, Matthew Gray, Pat Harrigan,
Gary Hawkins, Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Daniel
Kiefer, Bill McDonald, Michael G. McDunnah, Kim
Middleton, Kevin O'Neill, Raymond Obstfeld, Kathy Ogren,
Kenneth Reinhard, Sandra D. Shattuck, Patricia Casey
Sutcliffe, Julie Townsend. Bill McDonald is Emeritus
Professor of English at the University of Redlands,
Redlands, California.
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