FROM THE BACK COVER
“This life affirming novel goes to the center of human experience-the need for an interior, spiritual life; for some connections to the world in which we live, and for purity of vision.”

SHOULD READ
This life depressing novel goes to the center of human boredom-the need for a plot, for some reality to the world in which we live, and for putting the reader to sleep.

Cotzee, como muchos otros escritores, tiene tópicos recurrentes en su obra: el apartheid, la subordinación del individuo al poder dominante, la libertad individual, la terca persistencia del sentido de “Humanidad” en medio de la barbarie de la guerra y la injusticia. Este libro gira sobre ellos, en este caso, en la persona de Michael K: Un hombre simple y bastante inocente, que ha nacido con un labio leporino que le dificulta (aún más) la comunicación con los demás. Un hombre que ha crecido aislado. Y todo indica que así quiere seguir. Pero estalla la guerra y Michael queda desprotegido y expuesto a un sistema incoherente, que insiste en “rescatarlo”, curarlo, mantenerlo y alimentarlo, incluso ante su estupefacción, incluso ante su rotunda negativa. Michael tratará de escapar una y otra vez de lo absurdo, de la caridad mal entendida y del sometimiento:

“…Quien quiera vivir, no puede vivir en una casa con luz en las ventanas. Tiene que vivir en un agujero y esconderse durante el día. Uno tiene que vivir sin dejar huella de su vida. A eso hemos llegado.”

This book was very Kafkaesque. I do not say that lightly, since it tends to be a hackneyed short-form that passes for literary criticism by those who read The Metamorphosis in high school, and haven't touched Kafka since then. But this novel wasn't just Kafkaesque, it was so reminiscent and derivative (complete with heavy-handed and direct allusions to The Hunger Artist and The Castle), that at one point, I thought I might well have given up on it and just read ... Kafka.

But wait -- the best bits, the most poignant bits -- were the non-Kafka bits. The ones that read more as realistic character portrait of this sad, physically marred, mentally-deficient man, raised in cruelty and (it appears) squalor, and dumbly devoted to one thing: getting his Mother out of Cape Town. The first third, as Michael racks his brain to battle the bureaucracy and their poverty to get his mother out of the city; and when -- sob! -- *SPOILER ALERT*


















she dies after such a gruelling journey, and he lingered in the hospital, lost and alone, these bits were beautifully rendered and heartbreaking. Coetzee presents Michael K's remarkable idiot savant perceptions emerging from the strange and unique soup of this character's mind with somewhat overblown language, but also brilliantly. And then, it all goes awry as Michael K becomes some kind of Everyman crossed with Noble Savage, and the novel becomes allegory. Of something, who knows what.

I hate allegories. And, I hate Kafka done by anyone other than Kafka. And I really hated the switch-up in POV/narration and ham-fisted philosophizing (in case we hadn't picked up, by then, that Michael K. was a capital-S Symbol. Which just made him far less human, and therefore less sympathetic, to me. But hey, that's just me. And I hate allegories.)

This novel made me feel dumb and also angry, and not sad all the way through which is what it should have done.

2.5 stars.

Müharibə mənasızdır. Yaşamağı bilənlər üçün həyat əslində çox sadədir. Və bu həqiqətləri hamının kəmağıl adlandırdığı Maykl K.-dan öyrənməyimizin özü isə böyük bir kinayədir əslində.

Kai aš perskaičiau pirmą Coetzee knygą, iškart žinojau, kad čia bus vienas mylimiausių mano rašytojų. Drąsu taip teigti po vienos knygos? Gal, bet aš sakau jums - neklydau.
Nors esu girdėjusi, jog visos Coetzee knygos yra labai skirtingos, Nešlovė ir Maiklo K Gyvenimas ir Laikai turėjo tą pačią, neįtikėtinai paveikią, keistą atmosferą, būtent tą bruožą, kuris taip drąsiai man leido skalambyti, jog Coetzee mano rašytojas.
Kai autorius geba sukurti ne tik istoriją, ne tik poetišką, estetišką tekstą, bet parašyti ore tvyrantį jausmą - aš galvoju tik viena, kad tai yra genialu.

Iš pirmo žvilgsnio, knygos herojus visiškas keistuolis, ne tik savo išvaizda, bet ir sprendimais, tačiau puslapis po puslapio jo kelionėje ir galiausiai keistuoliais greičiau tampa visas likęs pasaulis, o ne Maiklas - kuriam svarbiausia buvo likti ištikimu sau. Beje, jau minėta išskirtinė Maiklo išvaizda (įgimtas veido defektas) man regis pasirinktas ne be reikalo - man čia kaip ir C. Airos Vieno Keliaujančio Dailininko Gyvenimo Nutikime, tokia istorijos detalė pasirodė, jog greičiausiai turėjo gilesnę prasmę. Tas išskirtinumas veikėjo veide tapo lyg žyme žmogaus, kuriam svarbu ne kiek jo ego, kuris koncentruotas į vidų, bet skleidžiamas aplinkai, o jo santykis su išore. Pabrėžiu - SU, tačiau ne DĖL jos. Atrodytų, kažkokie visuomenei neįprasti ir nepriimtini išskirtinumai žmogaus fizionomijoje atveria to žmogaus akis ir sielą - tikriesiems, svarbiesiems dalykams, o masę normaliųjų paverčia aklaisiais, siaurai mąstančiais individais, leidžiančiais sau stipriai per daug.

Siužeto atmosferą pripildo ne tik išskirtinis jos veikėjas, kita ne tokia dažna (bent jau mano skaitymo repertuare) aplinkybė čia - veiksmo vieta: Afrika, karo akivaizdoje. Man atrodo, tai tikrai prisidėjo prie knygos išskirtinumo ir unikalumo. O šiaip, žiūrėk, vos keli šimtai puslapių, tačiau aprūpinti viskuo, ko reikia stipriam kūriniui nuo - iki. Na gal veiksmo megėjui istorija pasirodytų per daug slenkanti, bet net ir siužetas nėra per stipriai monotoniškas ar melancholiškas.
Tik žinoma - keistokas, nors man šis epitetas būtinai gerųjų bruožų pusėje.

The Goodreads description gives us the bare necessity of understanding what this short novel is about. When Michael K is born with a harelip and apparently somewhat simple he is sent to live in a government institution. When he is turned out into society he becomes a gardener. He becomes close to his mother at this time and when she asks to be returned to her home upcountry, he endeavors to help her. The country has become embroiled in a civil war. Michael K and his mother are not able to get the proper permits to travel within the country. They must try to avoid the police. The story is much deeper than this as can be expected from this author.

In the beginning, I did not easily adjust to Coetzee's writing style. More particularly it wasn't what I remembered of him and that I liked so much in his Disgrace. I thought there were too many declarative sentences and that it was not especially interesting. On reflection, that may have been Coetzee's way of describing a life that was routine and uninteresting. Later, I underscored a couple of sentences that had both meaning and were more what I remembered of the way Coetzee writes.

Between this reason and the truth that he would never announce himself, however, lay a gap wider than the distance separating him from the firelight. Always, when he tried to explain himself to himself, there remained a gap, a hole, a darkness before which his understanding baulked, into which it was useless to pour words. The words were eaten up, the gap remained. His was always a story with a hole in it: a wrong story, always wrong.

The novel is told in 3 sections. The first and the third are told in third person and about Michael K. The second part is interesting in a different way, in that it is told in the first person by a doctor who is treating Michael K. The third part is very short - only 15 pages in the edition I read. I have to admit I'm not sure what Coetzee was doing for his ending. Maybe he had told all of the story he had in him, but felt he needed to do something to wrap it up. Maybe others will see it differently, but I think he failed in this "wrapping up". If felt as if he tried to do both too much and too little, if that is possible.

The last half of the first long section and the section told by the doctor is the best of this. It approaches 5-star territory. The ending brings it down - and abruptly - to the lower parts of 4-stars. Still very much worth reading. I am glad I have more Coetzee to read.

Set in South Africa during an unspecified period of civil war, Michael K is working as a gardener and his mother is ill. They cannot get papers to authorize a move to another location, so Michael decides to travel the back roads, taking his mother in a wheelbarrow to her childhood home. Michael’s life history is briefly recounted. He has previously been sent to a facility due to a cleft lip. Part One follows Michael in his travels with his mother, attempts to live off the land, and internments in labor camps. Part Two is told from the point of view of a doctor in one of the camps, as he attempts to treat Michael and keep him from starving himself. Part Three returns to Michael.

Michael is an innocent surrounded by the restrictions and violence of war. He inhabits an increasingly turbulent environment. He is a peaceful soul who only wants to be a gardener and live in a minimalistic manner. He is frequently misunderstood – thought to be part of a resistance movement or thought to have limited mental abilities. It is difficult for Michael to communicate due to his introversion and physical impairment. He is defenseless in the face of these misunderstandings and open to being preyed upon by others, even those who are expected to protect him.

Due his physical and (presumed) mental impairments, he is viewed as a person to be kept apart from others. His freedoms are curtailed or removed completely. He is either victimized or viewed with pity. Neither viewpoint recognizes his humanity or ability to make his own independent decisions. Since he does not conform to expectations, he is treated abysmally. By the end, the reader will understand more about his worldview. It is a thought-provoking work about suffering caused by war and the many ways people who are labeled as “different” have difficulties being understood.

4.45

This book was on its way to five stars until the monologue by the doctor caused my attention to waver. Coetzee sometimes falls into a moralizing monologue, as in Waiting for the Barbarians, that slows the pace of an otherwise galloping story, when he could have made his point better with action. Of course, the character of the doctor represents the white South African with a conscience who still fails to understand Michael, and I get that, but it was ten pages too much, in my opinion. I loved Coetzee's use of the character of Michael to demonstrate the ugliness in which the force of the State often cloaks itself, and to show how truly blunt an instrument military and police power is. Coetzee had an insightful comment to the effect that one is free of the meddling of state officials only in the wilderness and on the high seas; so true. That meddling is so much the worse when the state aggressively pursues an unjust policy, and Coetzee was writing in the early 1980's in apartheid South Africa.

On the whole, I very much enjoyed this book, and would recommend it.

I enjoyed this bleak but also inspiring novel more than Disgrace. Michael born with a hare lip and institutionalized during his youth now works as a gardener and looks after his dying mother. South Africa is in a civil war in which society is breaking down. The hospital his mother was is basic and the room they stay in at the behest of his mothers employer’s not much better.

Michael loses his job as a gardener and focuses on looking after his dying mother. The description of her stay at the hospital is horrific. She has worked as a cleaner for years where she goes back to stay with Michael in poor condition. She remembers a place she grew up which she associates with happy memories. Michael and her the embark on a journey to this rural farm.

Michael takes his mother to where she remembers is home in a rural town near Prince Albert. She dies during the journey and then he struggles to survive on a remote farm living off barely any food and growing pumpkins. Then he begins to live like a wild animal and builds himself a cave and tries to make sense of the world. One of roving soldiers and death around every corner.

He is then picked by the military and imprisoned in a work camp. He escapes and again is captured and in a malnutrition state sent to another camp. A doctor then tries to help him and fails. This part of the book is seen by through the doctors eyes. He escapes and goes back to Capetown where he meets some vagrants and then the inevitable end.

The story is one of a simple man trying to lead a life in a society gone mad. A moving story.

"Annem benim için bir kadındı, ama kendi için hâlâ elini tutması, yardım etmesi için annesine seslenen bir çocuktu. Annemin annesi de görmediğimiz o bilinmez alemde bir çocuktu. Ben sonsuz bir çocuk soyundan gelmekteydim."

Geçtiğimiz sene İsa üçlemesini okuduğumdan beri bir Coetzee kitabı okumamıştım. Coetzee'yi çok seviyorum ama zor, tuhaf metinler yazdığı şüphesiz, dolayısıyla araya biraz boşluk koyarak okumayı tercih ediyorum sanırım farkında olmadan. Ama özleşmiştik şüphesiz zira Utanç ve Barbarları Beklerken gibi iki devasa eser yazmış bu tekinsiz adamı sahiden seviyorum.

Michael K., yazarın okuduğum kitapları arasında en dokunaklı olanlarından biriydi. Doğuştan deforme olmuş bir dudak ve yarık bir burunla dünyaya gelen Michael K., bu dünyadan olmayan, bizim genelde "kıt akıllı" diye kategorize ettiğimiz o insanlardan biri. 30 yaşına dek iyi kötü yaşıyor ancak Güney Afrika'nın kendini bir iç savaşın içinde bulmasıyla beraber onun da dünyası altüst oluyor. Tıpkı Kafka'nın Josef K'sı gibi nedenini bilmediği bir anlamsızlığın içinde sürükleniyor, toplama kamplarına götürülüyor, suçlanıyor, cezalandırılıyor. Ve ısrarla şunu söylüyor: "ben savaşta değilim."

Ah, canım Michael K. Koca bir toplum aklını kaçırmışçasına silahlara sarılmışken "ben savaşta değilim" diyebilmek kıt akıllılık mıdır sahiden, yoksa bizim anlayamayacağımız bambaşka bir idrak seviyesi midir? Herkes birbirini öldürmeye çalışırken Michael K.'nın yaptığı gibi dağlara çıkıp inatla sebze yetiştirmeye, toprağı yaşatmaya çalışmak delilik değil de müthiş bir direniş biçimi olabilir mi?

Coetzee'nin her eserinde ilk bakışta görünenin ardındakini bulup çıkarabilmesine ve bence topumuza aptal muamelesi yapabilmesine büyük hayranlık duyuyorum. Kurumlarımızın, savaşlarımızın, aidiyetlerimizin, tanımlamalarımızın hepsinin ne kadar boş ezberlerden ibaret olduğunu ortaya koyan bir karakter ve roman Michael K - nitekim kendisini anlamaya en çok yaklaşan kişi olan ikinci bölümdeki anlatıcımız eczacının bakış açısında yarattığı değişiklik de bunun ispatı bence.

Kitabın da sonu olan, Michael K'nın ağzından duyduğumuz son cümleyle bitireyim: "İnsan böyle de yaşayabilir."

(Book 266 from 1001 books) - The Life And Times of Michael K, J.M. Coetzee

Life & Times of Michael K is a 1983 novel, by South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee. The novel won the Booker Prize for 1983.

The novel is a story of a man named Michael K, who makes an arduous journey from Cape Town to his mother's rural birthplace, amid a fictitious civil war during the apartheid era, in the 1970-80s.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «زندگی و زمانه مایکل ک»؛ «روزگار آقای مایکل ک»؛ نویسنده: جی.ام کوتسی (کوتزی)؛ (فرهنگ نشر نو) ادبیات؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز ششم ماه اکتبر سال2012میلادی

عنوان: زندگی و زمانه مایکل ک؛ نویسنده: جی.ام کوتسی؛ مترجم: مینو مشیری؛ ویراستار محمدرضا جعفری؛ تهران، فرهنگ نشر نو، آسیم، سال1383؛ در پانزده و221ص؛ شابک9647443242؛ چاپ دوم سال1385؛ چاپ چهارم سال1396؛ شابک9789647443241؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان افریقا - سده 20م

عنوان: زندگی و زمانه مایکل ک؛ نویسنده: جی.ام کوتسی؛ مترجم: آناهیتا تدین؛ تهران، روزگار، سال1384، در318ص؛ چاپ دوم سال1390؛ در262ص؛

عنوان: روزگار آقای مایکل ک؛ نویسنده: جی.ام. کوتزی؛ مترجم: ندا رهنوردحق؛ تهران، نگار و نیما (نگیما)، سال1384، در274ص؛ شابک9647905637؛ چاپ دوم سال1384، در299ص؛ شابک9647905521؛

زندگی و زمانه «مایکل ک»، شرح حال مردی منزوی، و به دور از تمدن است، که هماره کوشش دارد، بر ستم چیره شود، و سایه ی سلطه ی را از خود دور کند، و به میل خویش رفتار نماید؛ به این امید که در مزرعه ای زندگی آرامی داشته باشد، به شمال کشور میرود؛ و به رغم تمام اسارتها، تنگدستی و شقاوتها، تسلیم قوانین سخت و خشک بشر نمیشود و...؛ کتاب آسانی نیست، تا بتوانم آن را در یکی دو جمله، یا پاراگراف، تفسیر کنم؛ پس از رسیدن به جایی از کتاب، دیگر دلم آرامش نداشت و آرام نبود، همچو آنروزهای شیرین عسلی بود، که کتابهای «رولان»، و «جان شیفته»ی ایشان، روح و جانم را تسخیر کرده بودند، شاید هم برای همذات پنداری با «ک»، که آهسته میاندیشید، کتاب را آهسته خوانده باشم، گاه تنها یک پارگرافش را میخواندم؛ نویسنده انگار، کامپیوتر و زبان شناسی خوانده باشند؛ در جایی دیدم؛ کوتاه زمانی در «انگلستان» برنامه نویس شرکت آی.بی.ام هم بوده اند، پس از آن بود، که بیشتر به کتابهای ایشان دل بستم، کتاب هنوز کنار دستم است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 25/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 25/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

عاشقش شدم.
اوایل روند کتاب برام کند بود. از جزئیات ریز و درشتش سرسام گرفته بودم. بعد کم کم بهشون خو گرفتم. بعد تا دیدم دوسشون دارم و دوست دارم هر روز دنیا بلند شم و از ریز ترین کارهای مایکل ک بخونم؛ تموم شد.
اول انگار دارین جزئیات بی‌اهمیت زندگی یه لب‌شکری جنگ‌زده رو می‌خونین، بعد اما فلسفی می‌شه انگار. مایکل می‌شه یه پیامبر که بدون یه کلمه حرف زدن بهت درس زندگی می‌ده.
کتابش ارزش خوندن داره. همزمان که غم‌انگیزه، شوق آوره. همزمان که خسته‌کننده‌ست، هیجان داره و همزمان که دوست‌نداشتنیه، مهر طلب می‌کنه ازت.

بخش‌هایی از کتاب:
_حرف دیگری هم داشتم بگویم، اما نتوانستم حرف بزنم. احمقانه به نظر می‌رسید با کسی بگو مگو کنم که از آن طرف قبر نگاهت می‌کند.

_خیلی مشکل می‌شه به کسی که هیچی نمی‌خواد محبت کرد. نباید بترسی. باید بگی چی می���خوای تا بهش برسی.

_خودتو نکش. برو شاش کن.

_در تسلیم شدن به بیماری، نوعی لذت نهفته بود.