Coetzee

After reading his book, I thought of Coetzee to be a very boring person. His tone would always manage to put me to sleep. In person, he’s quite the opposite. His speech upon censorship was very well received at least by me. He has had many honors including a Nobel Prize which UT celebrated by making the Tower glow red in his honor in 93. Immediately, an accolade such as that increases the gravity an individual holds within a room. All of a sudden, everything they do makes sense and is amazing, so before Coetzee started, I told myself, “Don’t fall for the Nobel-Trap… hear him for what he says.”

My Camera died so y'all have to settle for Online Pics :(


So I took to my gut and strapped down to listen. His whole thought process about censorsh8ip started when he read a book titled “The Literary Police” by Peter McDonald. He claims it’s absolutely eye-opening however I have yet to be a critic there. Still, Coetzee himself was significantly affected by censorship in South Africa as during the peak of his writing career there were bans placed on many books trying to get published in South Africa. Of course, the censors were anonymous, but years after these incidents, Coetzee managed to get a hold of the report upon his books by the censors. His books were almost always deemed to be “read only by intellectuals” (Michael Kay, one of Coetzee’s censors) and therefore, Coetzee posed no threat to South Africa, and his books enjoyed the privilege of being published.

This made me laugh


Later on while reading these reports, Coetzee learns that he personally knew almost all of his censors. Which makes him wonder… why do people censor? The most similar and sound comparison I found to Coetzee’s conclusion was a parent. I know that every time I was forbidden to do something it was for my own good. For example, my mom would say, “Sharad don’t touch that plant… it’s poison ivy!" Things are censored from kids by parents not because parents are trying to be mean, but they simply have their child’s best interest at heart. A censor works the same way except for an entire nation. They don’t want a literary document floating around that will inspire civil unrest, and they don’t want to ban all literature as that is an important art form that inspires people to achieve their best. So censors are analogous to parents in that sense. Coetzee didn’t make this analogy, but it just dawned upon me naturally at the same time as Coetzee’s argument.

Parents shield their child the same way a Censor shields the nation!


Coetzee’s style of speech and tone of voice were everything but boring! I enjoyed his speech very much and was thrilled that I will receive extra credit for it. It’s sort of like going to Nam Le back in the Fall. I went in with zero expectations and left enlightened! It is funny how in college that seems to happen more often than one can count to three. Immediately, I understood from the quality of his speech that he was a Nobel Winner. His gravity in the room grew after his speech and I applauded from the bottom of my heart. That’s right! It wasn’t a fake applaud… that was real! The Honor bestowed upon him 93 most definitely manifests itself in his speech. Coetzee is brilliant!