- Slow Man
infobox Book |
name = Slow Man
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption =
author =J. M. Coetzee
cover_artist =
country =Australia
language = English
series =
genre =Novel
publisher =Secker & Warburg
release_date = 1 September 2005
media_type = Print (Hardback &Paperback )
pages = 272pp (UK hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-436-20611-0
preceded_by =
followed_by ="Slow Man" is a
2005 novel by South African/Australian authorJ. M. Coetzee , and concerns a man who must learn to adapt after losing a leg in a road accident. The novel has many varied themes, including the nature of care, the relationship between an author and his characters, and man's drive to leave a legacy. It is Coetzee's first novel since winning theNobel Prize in Literature in 2003.Plot summary
Paul Rayment, a man of late middle-age, loses part of a leg after his bicycle collides with a young man. He becomes reclusive, and must retreat to his flat and submit to a succession of nurses. None suit him until Marijana, with whom he shares a European childhood (hers in
Croatia , his inFrance ), comes along. Paul's feelings for Marijana, and her teenage son, become more complex. When Paul offers to finance her son's education, Marijana's husband is not so happy, and the interactions between carer and submissive become awkward.It is not until the famed author Elizabeth Costello – a character with some overlap with the eponymous heroine of Coetzee's 2003 novel "
Elizabeth Costello " – finds her way into Paul's life that he is able to become a stronger and fuller person.The book can be read as a discourse on the inter-relationship between the literary author and the characters, and with reality.
Theatrical adaptation
An operatic adaption of "Slow Man" by the composer
Nicholas Lens , in close co-operation with J. M. Coetzee who is writing thelibretto , has been announced.
The opera will be written forbaritone (Paul Rayment), mezzo-soprano (Elizabeth Costello ), soprano coloratura (Marijana), two dancers, orchestra and female choir. The world premiere would most likely take place at the opera houseLa Monnaie in Brussels in September 2010.Reviews
* [http://www.artzone.co.za/template_level2.asp?parentseq=136 Defending South African Realism by Ruben Copoosamy]
* [http://www.mysteryinkonline.com/2005/09/coetee_jm_slow_.html Review from MysteryInk]
* [http://www.stoicfisherman.com/J.htm Photoshop Love in J.M. Coetzee’s Book About Captive Goldfish, Slow Man]
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