Life & Times of Michael K (1983)

- PICKED BY HANNEKE -
April 2021

This poetic translation of Coetzee’s famous figure of Michael K into present day Johannesburg is not only a joy to read, but offers crucial insights into the enduring relations between country and city. How do they depend on each other in an imaginative sense? Can the ethics of the country, as personified by Michael K’s curious proclivity for fences and agricultural tendencies, still fulfill a role in the face of state corruption and xenophobia?

For a short introductory lecture I gave on Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K in the context of conversations with rMA students about the role of the pastoral in that novel, please see: https://video.uva.nl/media/0_ilkl93tj