Fiction1980Catalog context only

Waiting for the Barbarians

J.M. Coetzee
Overview
Region

Southern Africa

South Africa

Era

Post-colonial

Language

English

Genre

Fiction

About This Work

A magistrate of an unnamed empire on its frontier becomes complicit in the torture of nomadic 'barbarians' and must confront what he has done. An allegory of colonialism and apartheid that refuses to name itself.

Literary Significance

Considered one of the great political novels of the 20th century; Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in 2003

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A magistrate of an unnamed empire on its frontier becomes complicit in the torture of nomadic 'barbarians' and must confront what he has done. An allegory of colonialism and apartheid that refuses to name itself. Considered one of the great political novels of the 20th century; Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in 2003

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