Arnon Grunberg

More widely

Fling

Finally I saw the movie “Disgrace” based on the novel by J.M. Coetzee.
In the movie David Lurie appears to rape Melanie Isaacs, whereas in the novel David Lurie and Melanie have a fling. An affair between two consenting adults, albeit one of the adults is a student and the other adult is her teacher.
In both the movie and the novel David Lurie insists that “a woman’s beauty does not belong to her alone.” To whom belongs beauty? Should we do as Mr. Lurie says and share our beauty more widely? Is an exclusive sexual relationship utterly selfish? Coetzee writes: “She does not own herself. Beauty does not own itself.”