Foe
by:
J.M. Coetzee (author)
ISBN:
9780141399386
Publish date: June 2010
Publisher: Penguin
Pages no: 159
Edition language: English
Category:
Classics,
Novels,
Academic,
School,
Literature,
Cultural,
Africa,
Historical Fiction,
Literary Fiction,
20th Century,
Contemporary,
Nobel Prize
In this very slim book, probably really a novella, Coetzee tells the story of Susan Barton who becomes shipwrecked on Robinson Crusoe's island with Cruso and Friday. She is then rescued and tells the story to Daniel Foe (a stand in for Defoe).The book is written in the first person from Susan Barto...
Foe is a fascinating look at storytelling, biography, memoir, and author's control. Coetzee looks at all of this through the eyes of Susan Barton—the woman who was cast away and landed on Robinson Crusoe's island. "Huh? There's no woman in Robinson Crusoe!" you say. No, there's not. But Coetzee ...
"I ask you to remember, not every man that bears the mark of the castaway, is a castaway at heart."To me J.M. Coetzee's story Foe is a function of three distinct points of view that takes the reader from a manageable settled feeling, to a further state of evaluation, and finally to an interpretative...
Coetzee is a superior writer but the first 2/3s of this were surprisingly dull. As always, interesting concept and promise. Recommended for true Coetzee fans.
In general, I enjoy reading books which tell a well-known story from a different perspective. The Wide Sargasso Sea showed how using today's standards, Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre is a sexist, overbearing boor. And Gregory Maguire's Wicked is a brilliant and complex retelling of the children's cl...
Log in with Facebook 
