| Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship Contributor(s): Coetzee, J. M. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0226111741 ISBN-13: 9780226111742 Publisher: University of Chicago Press OUR PRICE: $34.65 Product Type: Hardcover Published: April 1996 Annotation: In Giving Offense, South African writer J. M. Coetzee presents a coherent, unorthodox analysis of censorship from the perspective of a writer who has lived and worked under its shadow. Widely acclaimed for his many novels, Coetzee is also a brilliant literary critic and essayist. The essays collected here attempt to understand the passion that plays itself out in acts of silencing and censoring. Subscribing neither to the myth of the writer as a moral giant nor to that of the writer as persecuted innocent, Coetzee argues that a destructive dynamic of belligerence and escalation tends to overtake the rivals in any field ruled by censorship. From Osip Mandelstam commanded to compose an ode in praise of Stalin, to Breyten Breytenbach writing poems under and for the eyes of his prison guards, to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn engaging in a trial of wits with the organs of the Soviet state, Giving Offense focuses on the ways authors have historically responded to censorship. It also analyzes the arguments of Catharine MacKinnon for the suppression of pornography and traces the operations of the old South African censorship system. Finally, Coetzee delves into the early history of apartheid and critizes the blankness of contemporary political science in its efforts to address the deeper motives behind apartheid. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Essays - Political Science | Censorship |
| Dewey: 363.31 |
| LCCN: 95037389 |
| Physical Information: 1.15" H x 5.78" W x 8.76" (1.11 lbs) 297 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. J. M. Coetzee presents a coherent, unorthodox analysis of censorship from the perspective of one who has lived and worked under its shadow. The essays collected here attempt to understand the passion that plays itself out in acts of silencing and censoring. He argues that a destructive dynamic of belligerence and escalation tends to overtake the rivals in any field ruled by censorship. From Osip Mandelstam commanded to compose an ode in praise of Stalin, to Breyten Breytenbach writing poems under and for the eyes of his prison guards, to Aleksander Solzhenitsyn engaging in a trial of wits with the organs of the Soviet state, Giving Offense focuses on the ways authors have historically responded to censorship. It also analyzes the arguments of Catharine MacKinnon for the suppression of pornography and traces the operations of the old South African censorship system. The most impressive feature of Coetzee's essays, besides his ear for language, is his coolheadedness. He can dissect repugnant notions and analyze volatile emotions with enviable poise.--Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review Those looking for simple, ringing denunciations of censorship's evils will be disappointed. Coetzee explicitly rejects such noble tritenesses. Instead . . . he pursues censorship's deeper, more fickle meanings and unmeanings.--Kirkus Reviews These erudite essays form a powerful, bracing criticism of censorship in its many guises.--Publishers Weekly Giving Offense gets its incisive message across clearly, even when Coetzee is dealing with such murky theorists as Bakhtin, Lacan, Foucault, and Ren ; Girard. Coetzee has a light, wry sense of humor.--Bill Marx, Hungry Mind Review An extraordinary collection of essays.--Martha Bayles, New York Times Book Review A disturbing and illuminating moral expedition.--Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review |
Contributor Bio(s): Coetzee, J. M.: - J.M. Coetzee is a South African novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. His published works include In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, and Disgrace. |