3.5 estrellas

es imposible describir este libro en un par de líneas, así que recomiendo simplemente leerlo. es crudo, muy crudo, pero retrata con fidelidad una parte importante de la historia, y lo hace sin filtros.

1.5 Stars!

Coetzee remains one of this most awarded and critically lauded writers, working in the Anglophonic world today. I have to say that I personally find his work hit and miss. Too often I find his prose cold and detached and the characters hard to relate or warm too.

“Dusklands” is split into two parts, “The Vietnam Project” and “The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee”. The first story is the account of a US government agent’s descent into madness. The second part is an historical account of hunting and a journey into the dark heart of the Dark Continent, which takes place in the 18th Century.

This isn’t an easy read and it isn’t a pleasant read, there are some signs of Coetzee’s talent, but only in patches and overall the experimental approach comes across as egotistical and rambling and I didn’t particularly enjoy reading this.

Two short stories, one regarding an academic specialist on psychological warfare during the Vietnam war, another about a slave owner in the 18th century; both of which examine power, violence, and its results in interesting ways. Excellent considering it's his debut novel..

All of the themes I expect from Coetzee are here and gestating in embryonic overwrought prose with a postmodern bent that critiques written and oral South African history and contemporary (70s contemporary) imperialism as seen in America's involvement in the Vietnam War, but it's all so grating and slow and does not have the efficiency and confidence of his later novels. Cool beginning though. Deeply strange and with images that have left me a tad shaken, even if the stories have a tendency to bore.

The first story’s a Coetzee I’ve never read before – intemperate and verbose, but also more audatious and emotive than the mature version. It gets galling but it has moments of begiling profundity.
The second’s a bit dull, but nothing to sneer at. Coetzee is one of few writers who always has something non-obvious to say.

13/02/18
I exclusively re-read books which I've enjoyed the past but I had to re-read Dusklands for the postcolonial course I'm currently a participant in. I'm glad I read it again; to be honest I'm not sure I understood it completely when I read it three years ago.
It is also funny how I was almost bored to death by the novella "The Vietnam Project" and were pretty engaged with "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee", which in the past was the other way around.


Original review:
I really liked the first part "The Vietnam Project" - the other part, "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee" not so much. If I only had to rate TVP, I would have given Dusklands more stars, but TNOJC completely ruined the experience for me.

These two short novels, one about a writer going through a messy divorce and the other about an 18th century frontiersman and the Hottentots he has to deal with, are tied together by the single act of violence on which their stories turn. Both stories involve the power their protagonists understand they wield, and their shaky hold on that power, over themselves, their dependents and the world they inhabit, and their ultimate succumbing to that power serves as both stories' climax.



The second story, "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee," is paced better than "Vietnam Project," but both stories are a little stilted and detached from themselves in places, which runs a little counter to the thrust of the stories themselves. Yes, that's nitpicking -- I recommend this short volume otherwise without reservation -- but having read his utterly amazing and fully realized novel "Disgrace," these two stories, his first published works, show a writer not yet at the height of his powers. Just know that, unlike the main characters in these two stories, J.M. Coetzee eventually gets there.

Harrowing.

Coetzee lives in my hometown. Picked up a signed copy of this, his first work, from a local bookstore. Bleak as expected.

Whenever you open a book by J M Coetzee you know it will be an event. Even if you don't particularly enjoy the prose or the topic you find yourself holding your breath a little. Dusklands is no exception.

A book which I felt is ultimately about repression made me think that history does repeat itself and all through it cultures have done unspeakable things to each other. This is not a pick me up read and definitely not a feel good read, however as with all Coetzee books it keeps you thinking stretches the little grey cells!

I started to reread this book multiple times before I managed to finish it and i had to push myself (it'stoo short not to finish). Happy this ain't the first novel I read from Coetzee because then it would have probably been the last one as well... But interesting to see how the early Coetzee developed into the much better writer he is now.

Oi. At least it was short. Not sure how this made it in to my list of to-reads.