2010/01/31 Miami
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Tim Parks reviews Coetzee’s novel “Summertime” in the last issue of The New York Review of Books.
Mr. Parks writes: ‘Certainly there’s comedy to be had in the description of this willfully unassertive man partnering a woman who sees sex “as a contest, a variety of wrestling in which you do your best to subject your opponent to your erotic will”. “He was not in my league,” Julia complains. When John tries to persuade her to moderate her lovemaking to fit the low movement of a Schubert string quintet, the better to “re-experience” the sexual feelings of a bygone age, Julia shows him the door. “The man who mistook his mistress for a violin,” she comments.’
Where Tim Parks discovered comedy in “Summertime” I saw irony and tragedy.
To mistake your mistress for a violin is not necessarily comedy. But perhaps I should reread “Summertime” in a more frivolous state of mind.
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21 comments 
I see the comedy not in the man's mistaking his wife, etc, but in the woman's wilful determination to remain oblivious to his point. Th Schubert advice ought to be welcomed by anyone interested in bettering their sexual experience, but the woman in this case had read a book by Oliver Sacks, so she knew better.
I was a bit let down by 'Summertime'.
Arnon, I saw the same. I thought Summertime was a masterpiece until I hit the Brazilian lady Adriana. In my opinion, he was completely off there. I've been finding it hard to read the rest. Perhaps I should write him a letter.
Aliefka
Where should we send fanmail for J.M. Coetzee?Hi Mieke. I wasn't really planning to send him fanmail. I'd like to send him a documentary I saw (not about him, but about sexuality as experienced by elderly women (and men) in Brazil in relation to the works of Carlos de Andrade). I wanted to ask him something about Adriana in light of that film. I haven't had the time yet, but my guess is if you send a letter to his publisher, they will pass it on to him. Or perhaps he has an agent.
Sour Grapes
I'm not sure if she read the book.She remembered the title.
Sour Grapes
P.S. His mistress not his wife.A telling lapsus.
Coetzee contact info
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/john.coetzeeOh BTW, I am certain that any lack of response will not be personal in any way.
Martin Amis: "Coetzee can't write"
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardpreston/100023944/latest-from-the-martin-amis-publicity-tour-jm-coetzee-cant-write/How anyone can suggest that John Coetzee has "no talent" is quite beyond me.
could it be a grotesque?tragedy and irony , that´s just about it...
Carlos
It's called: ' Seeking (more) publicity.'Frida
You can seek publicity by shooting yourself in the foot, but at the end of the day all you will have accomplished is to shoot yourself in the foot.Carlos
But you yourself took a picture of his foot and showed it to us.Carlos -
Thanks for the contact specifics. I doubt that email account is active. But I suppose it's worth a try. As for Amis: in my humble opinion criticism is healthy. But I feel it's entirely useless if it's not sincere. Albeit criticism hardly ever is.
Thanks for the contact specifics. I doubt that email account is active. But I suppose it's worth a try. As for Amis: in my humble opinion criticism is healthy. But I feel it's entirely useless if it's not sincere. Albeit criticism hardly ever is.
I pity the man who thinks Coetzee has no talent for he will never see beauty.
Yes, I remembered Summertime as a book, a kind of biography, written in an ironic and yet bitter mood of melancholy.
Slow Man made a bigger impression on me.
(I prefer to be mistaken for a violin than to be mistaken for a wrestling partner.)
Slow Man made a bigger impression on me.
(I prefer to be mistaken for a violin than to be mistaken for a wrestling partner.)
aliefka
If Amis (the younger) had just stuck with questioning whether "grim" works garner more acclamation than humourous ones he would have had a point worthy of discussion. However, the junior Amis claims to have only read one book by John Coetzee "once".It is true that if there is a humour in Coetzee's work, it is a very grim one. On the other hand, it is very hard to get by without a grim humour in South Africa (and indeed Africa as a whole). One could argue that the nearer death, violence, desolation and misery, the grimmer the humour. Perhaps one has to accept the numbing bleakness of the human condition in these circumstances to keep a small flame of hope alive. Laughing is never far from crying.
But one thing: would you (the reader) really want to make love to someone who wants to do "it" like a Schubert string quintet?
Carlos, thank you for your response. I appreaciate it. I feel I'm not equipped for an indepth discussion on humor in Coetzee's works. I have read a few of his books and all I can say is that personally, I savour reading them.
Schubert: Coetzee isn't the first and most definitely won't be the last. Often, men who are incapable of getting a hard-on (I can't think of a more elegant way to put this) pull this kind of a trick.
Schubert: Coetzee isn't the first and most definitely won't be the last. Often, men who are incapable of getting a hard-on (I can't think of a more elegant way to put this) pull this kind of a trick.
@Aliefka
Do you really have to unveil every trick?
Do you really have to unveil every trick?
To Bernard f
As Stephen King puts it:"We understand that fiction is a lie to begin with. To ignore the truth inside the lie is to sin against the craft, in general, and one's own work in particular. "
http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_sking.html
@Aliefka
Thanks! (sometimes I am such a damned teaser)
Thanks! (sometimes I am such a damned teaser)
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