Essays on Waiting for the Barbarians

African literature has a unique place amongst the various literatures of the world. It is political and embodies the collective sentiment of the people of the vast land. The “dark continent”, “the heart of darkness” became the playground of the many European forces that spread...

During the years 1948 through 1980, the South African apartheid was taking place. This act of racial segregation highlighted the rise of torture among races. This cruelly separated people and punished those who disagreed with what was taking place. Written by J. M. Coetzee, Waiting...

In J.M Coetzee’s novel, Waiting For The Barbarians we take a glimpse of our main character the magistrate an older gentleman who is possibly in his late sixties trying to make some kind of change for his Empire and for himself as well but, it...

This essay examines how author J.M. Coetzee destabilises the concept of “otherness” in his novel, Waiting for the Barbarians. The examination is done through the lense of Emmmanual Levinas and Martin Heidegger’s philosophical ideas about otherness with particular focus on an extract from the novel....

Historical novels provide entertainment for a larger audience but still account some accurate historical context making them an excellent source for academic study. While there is sometime blatant disregard for factual history, much of the early history of South Africa is very limited. Because of...