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Boyhood (Scenes from Provincial Life #1)
by
J.M. Coetzee
Coetzee grew up in a new development north of Cape Town, tormented by guilt and fear. With a father he despised, and a mother he both adored and resented, he led a double life -- the brilliant and well-behaved student at school, the princely despot at home, always terrified of losing his mother's love. His first encounters with literature, the awakenings of sexual desire, ...more
Paperback, 166 pages
Published
September 1st 1998
by Penguin Books
(first published August 21st 1997)
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This is the first volume of the autobiography of the South African novelist and professor, although I notice the "A" word does not actually appear on it and it is written in the third person as if to distance the writer from the protagonist.
It's a wonderfully observed account of the early life of a boy of Afrikaans descent but English sympathies as he grows up in the Western Cape. It shows his love of reading, his own company and his uncle's farm and it gives a detailed child's insig...more
It's a wonderfully observed account of the early life of a boy of Afrikaans descent but English sympathies as he grows up in the Western Cape. It shows his love of reading, his own company and his uncle's farm and it gives a detailed child's insig...more
My first Coetzee; I take it you're supposed to start with Waiting for the Barbarians or Michael K., but I just pulled this off our shelf (apparently C found it abandoned on the sidewalk a few years back, which is mildly poetic considering how this ends). It's in the form of a childhood memoir, but the nostalgia is not moist-eyed. It's a look back at a period in his early adolescent when his sense of separate selfhood developed, when he emerged to be something more than a target of his mother'...more
Everything I read from Coetzee has a profound impact on me. His words are so cutting, direct, affective, sincere, clear and concise. His ability to draw me in, paint a picture and transport me to wherever and whatever he is writing about astounds me. This is an autobiographical work with Coetzee himself as the narrator, referring to himself in the book as "he". I really like this approach because he is telling the reader about his life and the experiences that formed the man that h...more
An excellent memoir that uses totally unadorned language to tell the story of J.M. Coetzee as a young boy trying to make sense of the world and figure out the meaning of his life. The title and the use of "he," "his mother," "his father," and "his brother," instead of their names, gives this a sparse, universal, almost archetypal feel. Yet at the same time, Coetzee the individual, Coetzee the famous writer, is unmistakable, as the boy describes an almost...more
These "scenes from provincial life" far exceeded my expectations. JMC has written well about his youth and various lasting images of his youth. especially the racial diversity of his home that breeds deep racism even in early ages where the Afrikaans speak funny but view all whites of the boy's background as untrusted Jews. There is a piercing discussion of the boy's parents. His mother runs the house and he is thankful for this fact. His father is second-rate at all he does and finds ...more
In the Western Cape (as was) the Afrikaners in Coetzee's family would go to extraordinary lengths to talk to one another, and about themselves, in the third person. And so it's no surprise that in this slim memoir the author adopts the same tactic when looking back on his childhood self.
Of course looking back forty or fifty years how can you ever claim to be able to fully reinhabit your past self? Or pretend not to have knowledge which your older self now has but didn't have then... or at least ...more
Of course looking back forty or fifty years how can you ever claim to be able to fully reinhabit your past self? Or pretend not to have knowledge which your older self now has but didn't have then... or at least ...more
Talk about not doing yourself any favors; if young John could meet old John and read what he's said about him, he'd probably lash out in his imagination, go home, cry in his over-protective mothers' lap, then lash out at her for smothering him. Not much happens, which makes perfect sense, since as I remember childhood it isn't exactly filled with memorable events at all. Just a generalized mood with the occasional trauma and joy. This book captures that nicely, and might illuminate Coetzee's oth...more
Inside the front cover of Coetzee's Boyhood, in the police line-up of ejaculatory blurbs -- which I tend to find outrageously embarrassing -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is alleged to have called the book 'a liturgy of wisdom.' (Like me, you probably have a hunch that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the pimply-faced geek in school who never had a date and spent his lunch hour doing geometric proofs with the head of the math department.) Newsday, meanwhile, says it's comprised of 'pithy...more
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This is Coetzee's memoir. It leaves you with little doubt about why Coetzee writes. Very unusual and enjoyable sentence construction throughout -- third person, present tense, always in reference to his 10-year-old self. Nothing is idealized, nothing overly vague. This is a young, sometimes Afrikaner, pretend-Catholic kid that grows up relatively comfortably in a place with a lot of social strife and with parents he resents. It turns him inward, sharply, he probably has no other way out.
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After reading a couple books on Iran, I went to the library the other day determined to find something positive and hopeful. I only made it to the "C's" before I had three semi-depressing books in my hand. This one was one of them. I can't stop reading Coetzee. His themes really drive me (thematically he might be the greatest living author -- aesthetically not even close).
I wouldn't really recommend Boyhood to anyone unless if you are really into Coetzee. He published the w...more
I wouldn't really recommend Boyhood to anyone unless if you are really into Coetzee. He published the w...more
Unputdownable. Coetzee has such a careful, clinical honesty that his best writing is addictive, & this is some of his best. His love-hate struggles with his strong courageous mum, his disdain for his inflexible weak dad, his victimization of his younger brother, the various relatives on both sides of the family, his schools, the wild social stew that was South Africa in the 60's & 70's.
The ending was weak, but I'll forgive him--it's hard to end a masterpiece that walks so close to ...more
The ending was weak, but I'll forgive him--it's hard to end a masterpiece that walks so close to ...more
This guy's writing bugs me. I know he is a blah blah Nobel winner... but I can't get into his writing. Even if my personal situation, time period, cultural background, economic class, gender... is completely different from that of a book I am reading I still manage to find a way inside. I find a way to experience the story even though I am outside of it. I never escaped into the story for one second with this book, regardless of the style (written from the perspective of a child). For such a...more
Third person-present tense? Hmm. I basically read this book in two sittings, and when I picked it up the second time I was momentarily surprised to see the third person "he," and not an "I" voice: I had READ third person but HEARD first. Perhaps this is because other writers so frequently use first person-present tense now, presumably to make the distant past immediate and to craft an intimacy with the reader (and their own past self), but I think it's a weird, feigned way to...more
#21/2011 This book is 166pg. It took me a year to finish it. Why? Don't know. I'm a finicky reader at best. Seeing it amidst my stacks of books last night I decided enough's enough and knocked out the last 70pgs.
This, Coetzee's first of three creative memoirs, has all the hallmarks of things I love: an exotic locale, coming-of-age tale, life details of a literary great; however, the oddest thing happened every time I picked up this slim book. I felt weighed down by the writing, a se...more
This, Coetzee's first of three creative memoirs, has all the hallmarks of things I love: an exotic locale, coming-of-age tale, life details of a literary great; however, the oddest thing happened every time I picked up this slim book. I felt weighed down by the writing, a se...more
John est un jeune Afrikaner qui vit en Afrique du Sud, au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Élevé tranquillement entre une mère ancienne institutrice et un père avocat reconverti dans la comptabilité, il mène une vie partagée entre l'école primaire, les vacances et le quotidien familial.
Un gosse comme les autres, à cela près qu'il entretient une haine sans faille pour les Afrikaners, lourds et ballots, dans une société où triomphent les hiérarchies, où les castes ...more
Élevé tranquillement entre une mère ancienne institutrice et un père avocat reconverti dans la comptabilité, il mène une vie partagée entre l'école primaire, les vacances et le quotidien familial.
Un gosse comme les autres, à cela près qu'il entretient une haine sans faille pour les Afrikaners, lourds et ballots, dans une société où triomphent les hiérarchies, où les castes ...more
...a good argument for great novelists being born, as the powers of observation of this ten year-old are very incisive and sometimes profound...
As usual, Mr. Coetzee offers us a unique glimpse into the lives of South Africa that we may feel are not politically worth knowing about. However, Coetzee always paints them touchingly.
Young Coetzee seems invested with the mission of telling his family story at the end of this first installment and he definitely succeeds in makin...more
As usual, Mr. Coetzee offers us a unique glimpse into the lives of South Africa that we may feel are not politically worth knowing about. However, Coetzee always paints them touchingly.
Young Coetzee seems invested with the mission of telling his family story at the end of this first installment and he definitely succeeds in makin...more
What a fantastic little autobiography on Coetzees childhood! The authors style is defined and economical. His insights into human emotion are staggering. Boyhood is supposedly a trilogy ending with his recent release Summertime. I picked Summertime up at Exclusive Books a few weeks ago - didnt think it fair to read the new novel until I had read the previous two instalments first.
I love J.M. Coetzee's writing, and grabbed his boyhood memoir from a library bookend on impulse. He narrates from the 3rd person, which in an odd way makes it more intimate and honest. An easy read, and offers insight into life in South Africa and the emergence of the writer/man who is to be. Nice.
Childhood and early education in the South Africa sound like something out of Dickens. The poverty of the Afrikaans children was surprising, but his comments about their character were fascinating. Not a pleasant read, but an interesting window into the makings of a very serious writer.
Disturbingly detached, Coetzee's memoir didn't explode for me the way "Foe" did, but his depiction as a sad, scared young boy in South Africa was truly moving. I think I would have gleaned more had I any knowledge of South Africa - I brushed up midway through, and the book became much more compelling.
This book veers between fascinating & terrifying. Fascinating because the voice of the young boy in question(possibly an autobiography of the author) is so strong, so vivid, and so evocative, that it may very well be the most realistic presentation of a young boy in all modern fiction. However, it’s also terrifying in the depiction of the boy’s hates, loathings, secrets, and opinions, especially towards his mother. Coetzee gives us a character with the perceptiveness of an adult, trapped in the ...more
Having lived in South Africa for 6 years, I couldn't totally agree with the author on how English-speaking Afrikaners looked at the Afrikaans speaking ones. I do like his writing style and enjoyed Disgrace much more than this authobiographical book.
I think there are many better stories of childhood in Africa...I didn't get much of a view for the issues of his time--early 50s in South Africa. Mostly I think he used this as therapy about his issues with his mother. Why does everyone's book about Africa have to be about their mother? Come on... you can do better Coetzee...
Coetzee's writing is never nice. Not even these childhood memories of life in a small Southafrican town. But if there is cruelty in his stories, it is never there for effect. Coetzee presents humanity, in all his brutality, bluntness and beauty.
read this one 2010. i'd read waiting for the barbarians in '87 and hadn't picked up any of his other stuff since.
a young boy's life in south africa. life isn't so much different there than it was for me in the u.s.a. there were some instances where i said, oh, neato...that's different.
nice memoir. no big surprises. good story. entertaining.
portrait of the artist as a young...boy.
a young boy's life in south africa. life isn't so much different there than it was for me in the u.s.a. there were some instances where i said, oh, neato...that's different.
nice memoir. no big surprises. good story. entertaining.
portrait of the artist as a young...boy.
i was a bit disappointed. i should have known reading about ages 1 to 13 wouldn t be too interesting. part 2 is about ages 13 to 19 maybe that s more interesting but i am tired of coetzee.
This book is the first of Coetzee's two fictionalized autobiographies and I am starting it after accidentally reading the second part first. In "Youth," the second installment of his Scenes from Provincial Life, the reader meets a young man yearning for the life of a struggling artist having rejected the love of a mother whose love he rejects. But in Boyhood you learn what shaped this man.
This guy buries just about every other living writer I know of, and most of the dead ones, too. My wife points out that the dead ones are already buried, but you know what I mean.
I quite liked this book, the only problem I had with it was due to my own ignorance on the subject of South African history. A lot of the references just went straight over my head.
I reviewed this book at my blog, Hungry Like the Woolf.
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John Maxwell Coetzee is an author and academic from South Africa. He is now an Australian citizen and lives in South Australia.
A novelist and literary critic as well as a translator, Coetzee has won the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature.
More about J.M. Coetzee...
A novelist and literary critic as well as a translator, Coetzee has won the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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