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The Old Quarrel Revisited.
Stephen Mulhall is, almost unquestionably, one of the most gifted-and fertile-of contemporary philosophers. His range of interests and reading is almost phenomenal. He has written on topics ranging from religion to film, and linguistic philosophy to communitarianism.
His philosophical outlook is also almost unique. He seems to owe equal debts to Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. In addition, he has a much deeper knowledge of - and sympathy for- Christian theology than many of his colleagues. He adds to this a profound understanding of art, literature and film, and an extraordinarily limpid, fluent literary style and mode of argumentation.
This is his latest book. I must confess that I am still assimilating its thesis (or theses). Perhaps I will have to read it a few times before I can do justice to its arguments. Knowing that, I will still try to make a few comments.
One one level, this book is a commentary on, and sympathetic critque of, J.M Coetzee's polemic in the form of a novel, Elizabeth Costello. As many people know, Coetzee's book is, among other things, a defense of "animal rights"- a very radical defense.
However, Mulhall's book is more than acontribution to the current debate about the rights of non-human animals. It is also a contribution to a debate as old as Socrates and Aristophanes, and perhaps even as old as the Pre-Socratics. It is the debate one finds in Plato's Republic- the debate between poetry, broadly conceived, and philosophy.
In short a remarkable, thought-provoking book by an extremely interesting thinker. ... Read more

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With this new discussion guide, Bookclub-in-a-Box takes you behind the scenes through Coetzee’s South Africa at the point when the long-standing racially discriminatory policy of apartheid begins to fall apart. Coetzee looks at issues of power among South Africa’s different communities and tells the story of David Lurie, teacher, who commits a disgraceful act. Leaving his job and his life behind, he goes to stay temporarily with his daughter, a small crop farmer and boarder of dogs, in another part of South Africa.At the farm, a second abrupt incident again throws his life out of order, but this time, there are no simple solutions.

In fact, nothing in this compact novel is as simple as it seems. Let Bookclub-in-a-Box guide you to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the novel Disgrace, as you:

- Discover how Coetzee’s genius with words and sentences is calculated to create a tightly layered and powerful novel.

- Learn more about the impact that the dissolution of apartheid has on all of South Africa’s communities.

- Consider the moral implications of power, how it is wielded by both blacks and whites, and how that power might be wielded in the future.

- Uncover the classic literary connections between Coetzee’s novel and Byron, Dante, and still other literary references in this novel that is also destined to become a classic.

Every Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide includes complete coverage of themes, symbols, writing style, as well as interesting and little known background information on the novel and the author – plus a complementary RAG (Read-Alongside-Guide), a quick-reference pamphlet with fascinating facts and questions to consider while reading the novel. The Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide for Disgrace is no exception! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

in-depth and incisive guide to Disgrace
The Bookclub-in-a-Box consists of a large-format paperback guide packaged in a box (this is merely a waste of paper; all you need is the guide).The novel is not included, nor is it advertised that it is included.This is the first one of these guides I have purchased, and my expectations have been exceeded.This is an incredibly in-depth and book-specific guide.It is not a generic how-to-run-a-book-group guide.It is rather a specific guide to analyzing this particular novel.It provides information on the author and historical background as well as analysis and examples regarding character, setting, symbolism, narration, theme, style, etc.I highly recommend it.My only complaint would be the overpackaging, as the box merely contains the paperback guide, a needless paper bookmark, and post-it notes. ... Read more

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African compass -- New writing from southern Africa 2005 is the first title in a three--year series of the US $10 000 HSBC/SA PEN Literary award. The award is targeted at young writers who are citizens of any country in the SADC (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The chosen genre for the series is a short story and this volume contains a selection of the best from 373 entries. The upper age limit of writers was 40, and their work had to be original, previously unpublished and written in English. The selection process maintained author anonymity; initial readers, members of the editorial board and award judge, Nobel Laureate JM Coetzee, did not know the identity of authors throughout the process. When Antonio, apprentice to Michelangelo, asked how he might emulate the master he was told: 'Draw, Antonio Draw!' We say to young people of our region: 'Write Africa Write!' There must be future 'masters' of the written word in southern Africa and this series is intended to search them out and encourage them in the early days of their careers.Some of the stories still bore the marks of the school classroom, others were obviously by seasoned hands. Some were sophisticated in style, drawing confidently on the extravagances of contemporary postcolonial fiction, others were still fully faithful to the example of Somerset Maugham. ... Read more