by HERMANN WITTENBERG
Important additions to the Coetzee Papers shed light on the author’s recent writing
Working in a literary archive can be a remarkable experience, like being present in a garden of creation. When reading through the early manuscript versions of novels, one can encounter a textual labyrinth of paths not taken and of alternate storylines not chosen. There might be characters that are later dropped, settings that are hastily abandoned, and embryonic plot ideas that later morph into something entirely different. Above all, there is often a humbling sense of the ordinariness in such early beginnings, a mass of seemingly unpromising material that can unexpectantly result in a sublime work of art. [Read more…] about J. M. Coetzee’s Garden of Creation