Prompt: 1. Write a few sentences or a paragraph, integrating a quote, paraphrase, or summary from the article.
Prompt 2. Document your paragraph with either a signal phrase or a parenthetical in-text citation.
(In-text citations and signal phrases: In-text citations (sometimes known as parenthetical citations) are placed in parentheses within the text itself. Whenever you quote or paraphrase an author, use in-text citations. Example: the author’s name and page number where the information was from in parentheses: (Coetzee ##). Signal phrases are introductory words, naming the author of the source, and sometimes giving some extra information. Example: J. M. Coetzee in his novel, Disgrace writes that dogs behave “…as if they too feel the disgrace of dying…” (##). )
Here is the text: )
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee.
Authors:
Haslam, Alan C.
Source:
Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2019. 2p.
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
Disgrace (Book : Coetzee)
Coetzee, J. M., 1940-
Fiction
Fathers & daughters in literature
Sacrifice in literature
Abstract:
David Lurie was once a professor of classics and modern languages at Cape Town Technical University, but, in the changing climate toward pragmatics and rationality in postapartheid South Africa, he has been relegated to teaching “communications skills,” which serves to strengthen his feelings of obsolescence in a rapidly changing culture. Lurie is further alienated from social relations by two divorces and his recent estrangement from his child, Lucy, who lives on the Eastern Cape. Lurie’s social aloofness has led him to satisfy his sexual urges with a prostitute named Soraya, until he destroys the arrangement by attempting to contact her outside their normal meetings. Lurie soon attempts to fill the resulting void with a twenty-year-old student in his Romantic poetry class named Melanie Isaacs.
First published: 1999
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of plot: Late 1990s
Locale: Cape Town and the Eastern Cape of South Africa
Principal Characters
- David Lurie, a professor in his fifties
- Melanie Isaacs, a student with whom Lurie has an affair
- Lucy, Lurie’s daughter
The Story
David Lurie was once a professor of classics and modern languages at Cape Town Technical University, but, in the changing climate toward pragmatics and rationality in postapartheid South Africa, he has been relegated to teaching “communications skills,” which serves to strengthen his feelings of obsolescence in a rapidly changing culture. Lurie is further alienated from social relations by two divorces and his recent estrangement from his child, Lucy, who lives on the Eastern Cape. Lurie’s social aloofness has led him to satisfy his sexual urges with a prostitute named Soraya, until he destroys the arrangement by attempting to contact her outside their normal meetings. Lurie soon attempts to fill the resulting void with a twenty-year-old student in his Romantic poetry class named Melanie Isaacs.
Lurie successfully seduces Melanie after a couple of missteps, but she is reticent during the few sexual encounters they have; Lurie is conscious that at least one of these encounters is only barely consensual and is tantamount to rape. Melanie’s attendance in Lurie’s class becomes sporadic, and it is clear that Lurie is losing control of the situation; Melanie’s boyfriend harasses him, and his car is vandalized. Lurie grows increasingly certain that his students know about his affair, and soon his fears are confirmed by a visit from Melanie’s father.
Lurie evades Mr. Isaacs, who has come to discuss the affair Lurie is having with his daughter; he is not, however, able to evade the sexual harassment case filed against him by the university. Lurie has no patience for the proceedings; he is given ample opportunity to express remorse, enter counseling, and save his job, but he steadfastly refuses. It seems to his colleagues as if he purposefully wishes to destroy himself. He succeeds; Lurie resigns and moves from Cape Town to his daughter’s smallholding in the town of Salem on the Eastern Cape.
Lucy lives alone on her small farm, raising and selling crops and running a small kennel. Lurie has difficulty adjusting to life on the farm but soon occupies himself volunteering at a local animal shelter, as well as helping Lucy with farm work.
The alien but peaceful routine of the farm lasts until Lurie and Lucy are attacked by three black men they invite inside to use the phone. The men quickly take Lucy into the house and lock the door, and Lurie is knocked unconscious while the men take Lucy to another room and rape her. Lurie awakes to find himself being doused with a chemical and set afire; he loses his hair and suffers severe burns to his scalp. The men have killed all but one of the dogs in the kennel and stolen everything of value, leaving the house in shambles. Lucy reports the attack and the burglary but refuses to report the rape, much to Lurie’s chagrin.
After the attack, it becomes clear that Lucy’s neighbor and business partner Petrus was somehow involved, but Lucy refuses to change anything about her living situation, which further enrages Lurie. Soon, at a celebration with Petrus in honor of acquiring more land, Lucy sees one of the men that attacked her, a disturbed youth named Pollux. Still, she refuses to press charges.
As their disagreements cause the distance between Lurie and his daughter to grow, Lurie spends increasing amounts of time at the shelter with Bev and even has a brief affair with her. Lurie’s duties consist mainly of assisting in the euthanasia of the dogs and disposing of their bodies. Lurie is becoming increasingly affected by his involvement with the animals, and he eventually takes over the cremation duties to ensure that the dogs’ bodies are treated respectfully.
During this time, Lurie repeatedly argues with Lucy and entreats her to move, but she refuses; Lurie eventually returns to Cape Town. In Cape Town, Lurie seeks an audience with Mr. Isaacs and finally apologizes during an uncomfortable dinner. When Lurie finally takes up residence in his house again, he finds it has been robbed and vandalized. He eventually visits Lucy again at her home, and discovers she is pregnant from the rape and determined to keep the child. Lucy decides to sell her land to Petrus in exchange for permission to stay in the house, and for his protection—an arrangement that amounts to a civil marriage. The novel ends with Lurie renting a room in Grahamstown, helping Lucy at the market on weekends, and again volunteering at the animal shelter.
Bibliography
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