I first heard about this book while searching for literary material for my high school seniors' IB Diploma program a few years ago. I was looking to add an African writer to our book list, but I ended up going with Maru by Bessie Head--an altogether wonderful choice. Disgrace, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, lives up to its acclaim. Set in 1990's South Africa, where racial tensions are still high, Coetzee creates a story with dynamic and believable characters, if not unlikeable.
Our story begins focused in on one of the biggest douchebag characters I've ever read. Can I say douchebag? Is that word too low brow for such an award-winning novel? If it is, whatever, the main character is an unapologetic douchebag, which the readers know because the story is told through his eyes.
Professor David Laurie is a middle-aged white man teaching in the Communications Department of a university in Cape Town. At the beginning of the story, Laurie makes clear his sexual proclivities, detailing the time he spends with a prostitute he calls Soraya. (Just to be clear, this is not what makes him douchey. I think sex workers deserve respect and do work that is societally relevant.)
After Soraya disappears, Laurie attempts to contact her through her agency without success. So now, he is beside himself wondering what he will do about his natural, manly desires. Seeking a solution, Laurie stalks a young woman in one of his college courses. Yes, he stalks her:
"On Sunday morning he drives to the empty campus and lets himself into the department office. From the filing cabinet he extracts Melanie Isaac's enrolment card and copies down her personal details: home address, Cape Town address, telephone number."
I'm a professor. First of all, I would never in a million years pursue anything sexual or romantic with a student. It creates a power imbalance that is super predatory and creepy. Second, what Laurie did to find this girl's information is completely unethical.
But this is only after he approaches her on campus, and asks her to come over to his place. Ok, Melanie is a grown woman. She can make her own decisions. But Coetzee does a great job creating a mood that is extremely uneasy. It is obvious (although not to Laurie) at several points during his encounters with Melanie that she is uncomfortable. The dramatic irony here only amplifies the awkwardness that the reader feels. Much of this feeling came from not knowing if Coetzee was trying to create sympathy for Laurie. At certain points, it seemed as though he was, which makes me cringe ever harder.
Laurie's affair with Melanie Isaac comes to head when she reports him to the university. The end result is Laurie losing his job, and subsequently deciding to visit his daughter out of town for a few weeks.
Before going on this hiatus, Laurie is set to appear before a hearing which will decide the consequences of his actions with Melanie. Laurie's flippant attitude towards the hearing is infuriating. At one point, he describes his encounter with Melanie was not just a creepy, horny old man hitting on his student, but instead says:
"Words passed between us, and at that moment something happened which, not being a poet, I will not try to describe. Suffice it to say that Eros entered. After that I was not the same."
Eros entered? Laurie attempts to pass off his lust for Melanie as some type of overwhelming love, making him all the more unlikeable.
And then, in what is probably the most cringe-worthy exchange between the Professor and Melanie, Laurie tells her that she ought to stay the night with him. When she asks why she ought to, his response is gross:
"Why? Because a woman's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it."
Coetzee does a superb job of showing us who Laurie is, his false confidences and insecurities, through his thoughts and feelings. When Laurie first arrives at his daughter's farm, one of the first observations he makes is that his daughter is overweight. This is extremely important to note, because of course, a woman's worth is summed up by her ability to sexually please men.
Lucy, Laurie's daughter, welcomes Laurie to her farm. The relationship between them is revealed to be stalled from the beginning, as they differ philosophically on pretty much every known topic. Despite Laurie's attempt to get closer to his daughter, he and Lucy are unable to find common ground after a horrifying tragedy.
The rest of the novel focuses on Lucy and her father trying their best to mend their broken relationship, but failing. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it, so I won't provide too much detail. The result is a sad story with an unsatisfying and disappointing ending. But that doesn't mean the writing is bad. Rather, Coetzee's literary mission is clear and effective. He tells this story with the mastery of a true writer. Despite it being so macabre, the slow unfolding of the main character was excellent, and the relationship between he and his daughter was complex and believable.