Waiting For the Barbarians [Paperback]

 

 

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Coetzee is South Africa's most compelling writer. His prose is hard and precise and his stories crafted with a sharpness that cuts to the quick.
"Waiting for the Barbarians" is profound and powerful. Bleak and desolate at times, but sparkling often with rare luminosity.
The magistrate is a character that embodies a particular dillema during Apartheid, or any period of opression. What to do? What to risk? What is our moral responsibility? It's an uncomfortable question flung at a world often so enamored with comfort it refuses to act against injustice. Unless it suits them politically.
As a writer and South African, Coetzee remains for me a constant inspiration on how to address the troubled past. There is redemption and bleakness, despair and small joys.
Coetzee knows the complexities and doesn't stoop to easy answers. If truth be told he is the South African most worthy of the Nobel Prize.

The book 'Waiting For The Barbarians' by J. M. Coetzee is an interesting book but I feel that it is a hard book to read. Coetzee portrays humanity at its worst, showing how innocent and good people can be corrupted and show ill will towards his or her brethren. It shows us how a person or a group of people that hold power can dictate what is considered to be right and wrong and how people can just follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing so that they wouldn't have the chance to be ridiculed for what they believe in.
When Colonel Joll and his troops arrived they said that they were there in order to bring peace to the town, but this is ironic because there wasn't any problems there in the first place. Colonel Joll convinced the people that the 'Barbarians' were planning an attack on the town n that they were going to try to get their land back. Everyone followed them even though people knew for years that the 'Barbarians' were gentle, harmless people.
The only one who thought to stand up for his beliefs was the 'Magistrate'. He knew just like the rest of the town that the 'Barbarians' wasn't going to attack the town now and never attacked the 'Empire' before because that wasn't their style. The 'Magistrate' in this book undergoes embarrassment and torture for about a year for his belief that the 'Barbarians' were gentle people who wished for nothing more than peace, and that the 'Empire' were a bunch of heartless and ruthless people whose only concern was expanding and growing by any means possible.
Besides from this show of humanity at its worst it also raises questions. 'Is it worth it for one to stand up and fight for what one believes in?' and 'How hard will one work; or how much will one sacrifice for what one believes in?' When you read it you will ask yourself: 'Could you be like the 'Magistrate' and suffer a year of embarrassment and torture for your beliefs?' 'Could you give up three good meals an day and a nice warm bed to sleep in?' 'Could you go without contact with other people and not go crazy?' 'Could you do any of these thing and come out a survivor'
Even though it is a hard book to read, depending on how one interprets it one can learn more about one's self from this book and its powerful underlying meanings. It is compelling and riveting and will surely catch your attention and leave you wanting more every time you put the book down. This was my first Coetzee book that I read but I think I will be trying to read more of his writing in the future.

J. M. Coetzee's "Waiting for the Barbarians" is a novel different than most I have read because the reader does not know exactly where it takes place. It is understandable if people think the setting is in South Africa, because the manner in which the barbarians are treated is how Black people were treated during Apartheid. But the thing is, the reader not know if the barbarians are Black, White, Yellow or Red, and neither do we know the skin color of the people living in the Empire. You might finish the novel wondering exactly why this is so. Coetzee wants the readers to focus on something else other than when and where his story takes place.
There are very few names in this novel. The main character is simply known as the Magistrate. His duty is to supervise a piece of territory that belongs to the Empire. Throughout the story he seems to be miserable because of his old age. This behavior of his leads him to write notes on the Empire so that when he soon dies, he feels like he has at least put his life to some use by leaving behind a history for future generations to read.
From the beginning of the novel, readers are introduced to Colonel Joll, whose duty is to find barbarians and question them to find out the truth - if they raided farms or plundered houses. He accomplishes this by torture. To him, pain is truth.
When the Magistrate finds out what Colonel Joll does to the barbarians, he is astonished and cannot believe what he sees one day when he finds the body of an old man in one of the questioning rooms. Seeing the eyes gouged out, teeth broken in, and beard drenched with blood, the Magistrate is introduced to what exactly happens in the Empire. He is disgusted, and he gradually grows a hatred toward Colonel Joll, as well as the Empire.
When the Magistrate meets and is attracted to the half blind girl (one of the tortured barbarians left behind when her people left) who begs for money in the town, he takes her in, and his life is changed. He bathes her, sleeps with her, and takes care of her. It is from this woman that the Magistrate wonders why there is such hatred toward the barbarians. To him they are a reserved people who are trying to defend themselves and stay alive. He says that it is the Empire that has come on their land and taken it away from them. It is those in the Empire who are the real barbarians.
After spending many months with the girl, the Magistrate decides he should take her back to her people. He notifies the capital that he will embark on a journey to find the barbarians and restore goodwill. He does so, and after almost two weeks of surviving in the desert with its sand storms and rough weather, and having succeeded in giving back the girl to her people, the Magistrate returns to his town only to find that his position has been taken over by a Warrant Officer, Mandel, and that there are many more soldiers guarding the town than there were before. This only means one thing: The campaign against the barbarians has begun.
He is taken prisoner in his own town, stripped of all authority he had, and is humiliated by civilians and officials. He is treated as a barbarian because of his kind heart towards the barbarians. He is hanged until he cannot breathe ( but he is not killed ), and then after he is hanged by the arms until the muscles around his shoulder area are torn apart. His humiliation includes walking around town with beggars clothes, craving for food since he is not fed properly ( and regularly ) by the soldiers.
By the end of the novel, the reader is challenged to ask questions such as "Would I be willing to stand up for what I believe in even if it means humiliation?" or "What is freedom? What is justice?"
This is definitely one of the most challenging books I have read. Through use of graphic detail, Coetzee is not afraid to let readers know the extremes of the cruelty of man. This is what makes the novel compelling.
If you are in the mood of a story that is deep and at the same time though provoking, I would recommend "Waiting for the Barbarians".

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5.0 out of 5 stars A classic story
Waiting for the Barbarians is a fascinating story about a magistrate working for a dysfunctional and corrupt colonial empire that borders on the outskirts of the modern world... Read more

Published on Mar 5 2005 by Mikhail

4.0 out of 5 stars A philosophical indictment of imperialism
The novel takes place in a fictionalized setting, where the narrator is the magistrate of a remote province and wishes for nothing more than to have sex with a lot of natives and... Read more

Published on Jun 11 2003 by namelessca

4.0 out of 5 stars Untitled
A compelling story of realization, truth, and revolution was Waiting for the Barbarians, by J. M Coetzee. Read more

Published on Feb 14 2002 by Michelle L. Parent

4.0 out of 5 stars Empire in the Snow
The story Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee is directed towards an audience that reads deeply, and thoughtfully. Read more

Published on Feb 13 2002 by JHO

3.0 out of 5 stars Who are the barbarians?
I found Coetzee's novel, Waiting for the Barbarians, to be a thought-provoking, yet at times unsatisfying novel. Read more

Published on Feb 13 2002 by Joanna

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing like a slow paced novel to put you to sleep at night
Coetzee has written a very long and tedious novel to try to explain something that could easily be explained in a short essay with real facts. Read more

Published on Feb 12 2002 by ACB

2.0 out of 5 stars Time consuming, thought provoking, slow
Though the story managed to touch on many key themes and problems in our society, the way it was delivered lacked any sense of interest on the part of the reader. J . Read more

Published on Feb 12 2002 by Will

3.0 out of 5 stars Waiting for The Barbarians
Waiting for the Barbarians, is a fascinating novel by J.M. Coetze that uses lots of imagery to attract the reader. Read more

Published on Feb 12 2002 by devin

3.0 out of 5 stars A Dig Into Reality
Waiting For the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee is a fine book, that depicts civilization at it's worst. I found the book to be boring frequently, but other parts, especially towards... Read more

Published on Feb 12 2002 by Walker Berry

5.0 out of 5 stars *
The underlying story of a faceless empire that crosses generations cunningly depicts not only the brutality and lack of order of large empires, but also in individuals. Read more

Published on Feb 12 2002 by Nick

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