Literatur » J. M. Coetzee: The Childhood of Jesus

Hello Guys,

J. M. Coetzee's recently published novel The Childhood of Jesus is being discussed by Peter Craven in Avuncular Question Marks. Apparently, the book has already been translated into other languages (that was quick!). American edition to become available in September.

I finished it the other day. I won't claim that I actually understood it, but I liked it. A lot. Though the story is in a way straightforward (man and boy arrive in a new place, go looking for the boy's mother), the setting surely is not, which makes it all difficult to interpret. The new place they arrive at is an unnamed country where people speak Spanish; when they arrive they are given new names and new birthdays. It's a rather bland place, and most people also seem to almost have no knowledge of what happened before they arrived, though most if not all are "refugees" of some sorts, same as the two main characters are. There's conversations, lots of them, often about philosophical topics. So that all makes it rather allegorical, but an allegory of what, I don't know. Thankfully, after reading some reviews here and there in newspapers, I'm not the only one, it seems.

Thanks

I didn't find the right solution from the internet.
References:
- http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/foru...ldhood-of-Jesus
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