Disgrace

After years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town, David Lurie, middle-aged and twice divorced, has an impulsive affair with a student. The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry. Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated farm. For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonize his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. He and Lucy become victims of a savage and disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faults in their relationship. (From Vintage Books)

J.M. Coetzee is a South African novelist. His books includeLife & Times of Michael K,Waiting for the BarbariansandThe Master of Petersburg. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003 andhas won the Booker Prize twice. He lives in Australia.

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