HLHdisgraceNOTES

E N G L I S H 2100H
honors literature & humanities

notes on
J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace

Here's a quick guide to some literary and historical references, terms, and quotations that appear in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace (page numbers in parentheses identify where the name or term appears in our text). In several cases, I've provided a brief definition or explanation; in some cases, I've simply hyperlinked the name or term to an appropriate online article; in most cases, I've done both. If you spot an error (or wish to add a definition or clarification), please send me an e-mail.

- an oasis of luxe et volupte ["luxury and pleasure"] (1): variation on a line ("Luxe, calme, et volupte") from Baudelaire's "Invitation au voyage." (Information kindly provided by Professor George Gabor, Dept. of Math & Statistics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.)

- Cape Town, South Africa (3): see also South African Politics, a web site by Allison Drew, and South Africa Post.

- Romantic poets (3)

- Emma Bovary (5) (150): central character in Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1897), psychological study of a doctor's passionate wife in provincial Normandy who commits adultery and kills herself. (Talk about "boiling it down"!)

- Meerlust (12): a respected South African winery. Marya Pallin writes, "Meerlust means 'lust for the sea.' Might be interpreted as a want to free himself of guilt from the Isaac family, as sea is used as a symbol for freedom?"

- [William] Blake (12): early English visionary, artist, and Romantic poet.

- Norman McLaren (14): animator and filmmaker.

- Byron scandal (15): incestuous relationship with his half-sister.

- "From fairest creatures . . ." (16): Shakespeare's Sonnet #1.

- George Grosz (19): German expressionist.

- Wordsworth's Prelude (21): long autobiographical poem.

- Wordsworthian moments (23): revelatory occasions where one suddenly sees or feels a spiritual truth that resists reason (e.g., the poem "Perfect Woman")

- Kaaps accent (24): the Cape Malay variety of Afrikaans.

- Professor Chips (31): title character of James Hilton's sentimental novel Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1934).

- "Lara" (32): long poem by Byron--like other Byronic heroes, "Lara" (Conrad, disguised) is aloof and alien, shrouded in mystery.

- Schadenfreude (42): a German word, meaning to delight in the misfortunes of others.

- Lucy (43): a beautiful young girl, the subject of a group of poems by Wordsworth.

- "Blest be the infant babe" (46): from Book 2 of Wordsworth's Prelude.

- Eros (52): Greek god of love.

- "Sooner murder an infant . . ." (69): from Blake's Proverbs from Hell.

- cycads (70)

- kombi (70): a passenger van.

- Afrikaner (71)

- balaclava cap (71): winter headgear

- duiker (73): dwarf antelope.

- The Mystery of Edwin Drood (76): final (unfinished) mystery novel by Charles Dickens.

- Lethe (83): river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology

- St. Hubert (84): for a different version of this saint's encounter with a deer.

- Byron's letters of 1820 (87): see The Byron Chronology for 1820: Ravenna. Portrait of Teresa Guiccioli.

- scapegoat (93): a visit to the pages of The Scapegoat Society might stimulate further thought about this familiar metaphor and the condition it describes.

- an Aunt Sally (95): an easy target for criticism (check this page from World Wide Words for the interesting story behind this British slang expression).

- neighbor (116): Lurie is likely to be aware of the word's etymology . (Consider his sensitivity to language in general and to the inadequacy of words to express meaning: e.g., his meditation on English as an "unfit medium for the truth of South Africa" on page 117).

- Kaffraria (122).

- Handlanger (136): German for "handyman."

- kaffir (140): in South Africa, a disparaging term for a black person.

- Lösung (142): German word meaning the solution or the resolution.

- "because we are too menny" (146): from Jude's suicide note in Thomas Hardy's novel Jude, the Obscure (1895).

- Rape of the Sabine Women (160): painting by Nicholas Poussin (see also Rape of the Sabine Women , painting by Rubens), based on myth related to the founding of Rome.

- "Sunt lacrimae rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt" (162): from Vergil's The Aeneid, the text reads that Aeneas cried ("sunt lacrimae rerum") as he looked at the Carthage temple murals depicting the battles of the Trojan War and the deaths of his countrymen. Vergil is also saying that as Aeneas cried, he experienced with all his mind and soul ("mentem mortalia tangunt") the futility and waste of human warfare, and the fragility and suffering that define being human.

- "shanty settlements" by Cape Town (175): these make-shift poverty-stricken settlements (usually without roads or facilities) can be found in urban areas throughout South Africa.

- Byron's daughter Allegra (186): daughter of Byron and Claire Clermont (Mary Godwin's stepsister), Allegra died of a fever in the convent school at age five.

- Cronus (190)

- "Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger" (191): from the first page of Twilight of the Idols (1895), by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

- "A fair field full of folk" (192): from William Langland's Piers the Plowman (late 14th century).

- "Omnis gens quaecumque se in se perficere vult" (194): The meaning (as well as the correct grammatical form) of this statement has been the subject of some debate among professors of Latin.

- Pollux (200): in Greek mythology, one of the twin sons of Leda and Zeus.

- bywoner (204): sub-tenant of a farm, agricultural laborer.

English 2100H is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
University Hall 297D
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia 31419
912-921-5991
e-mail: nordqudi@mail.armstrong.edu

07 December 2004