Elizabeth Costello
Elizabeth tirelessly lectures and gives speeches all over the world. Although it is not entirely clear in this work where fiction ends and fiction begins, the character of Elizabeth is a metaphor for a writer who does not write but gives formal speeches.
Following Elizabeth's life, Coetzee reveals to us her contradictions, her relationship with her son, her obsession with animal rights, her models of communication between people... Coetzee used the story of the writer to talk about the Holocaust, colonialism, Greek mythology, Christian morality, Kafka, the absurd - all the while weaving a contemplative and abstract web with real life. The climax of the novel comes when Elizabeth faces the loss of text, the loss of words, because she has nothing left to say. Writing a novel of big ideas, Coetzee seems to be re-problematizing the questions of what it means to be human, but also how to create meaning and give life its lost meaning.
One copy is available
