FoeWith the same electrical intensity of language and insight that he brought to Waiting for the Barbarians and The Master of Petersburg, J.M. Coetzee reinvents the story of Robinson Crusoe-and in so doing, directs our attention to the seduction and tyranny of storytelling itself In 1720 the eminent man of letters Daniel Foe is approached by Susan Barton, lately a castaway on a desert island. She wants him to tell her story, and that of the enigmatic man who has become her rescuer, companion, master and sometimes lover: Cruso. Cruso is dead, and his manservant, Friday, is incapable of speech. As she tries to relate the truth about him, the ambitious Barton cannot help turning Cruso into her invention. For as narrated by Foe-as by Coetzee himself-the stories we thought we knew acquire depths that are at once treacherous, elegant, and unexpectedly moving. |
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Africa arms ashore Bahia bailiffs began believe better boat boy Jack Brazil breath Bristol cannibals captain cast castaway child Clock Lane clothes confession Cruso's island cuttlefish dancing dark daughter Deptford door dull ears England eyes feet fell fingers fish Flanders flute Foe's forever Friday Friday's tongue fronds garden ghost gipsies girl grow hair hand head hear heard heart highwaymen J. M. COETZEE kiss knew knife kraken lips live lost his tongue master means mouth Negro never Newington night pass perhaps Portuguese rain replied robes Robinson Cruso rock sail seaweed seemed ship silence skin slave sleep slept smell smiled speak speech Spoon staring Stoke Newington stood story strange sure Susan Barton tell terraces thought Thrush told took true truth Tyburn waiting watch waves whispered wind woman words writing