Waiting for the Barbarians
by J.M. Coetzee

J.M. Coetzee writes with a pen that's sharp as a knife, in ink made from his own blood. Or so it seems, for each word seems carved or cut, obtained at great price, offered as a sacrifice. “Fun” reading? Not at all. Necessary reading? Now more than ever --- these 160 pages are eye-openers, and they'll keep your eyes open long after you close the book.

Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. That's even more impressive because his literary career is comparatively brief; he didn't produce his first book until 1974. “Waiting for the Barbarians”--- the novel that established him as an Important Writer --- was published in 1980. In those days, it was viewed as an allegory of South Africa, Coetzee's homeland. To read it now is to read a very different book.

The title comes from a poem by Constantine Cavafy. In it, there is great expectation of a visit from the “barbarians.” The Emperor awakes early, Senators gather, military men put on plumage. The day passes. Finally….

…night is here but the barbarians have not come.
And some people arrived from the borders,
and said that there are no longer any barbarians.

And now what shall become of us without any barbarians?
Those people were some kind of solution .

Jumping off from this poem, Coetzee asks: Who are these barbarians? And what purpose do they serve?

The character who narrates the novel --- and who tries to answer these questions --- is not an exceptional man. Far from it. He says of himself:

I am a country magistrate, a responsible official in the service of the Empire, serving out my days on this lazy frontier, waiting to retire.  I collect the tithes and taxes, administer the communal lands, see that the garrison is provided for, supervise the junior officers who are the only officers we have here, keep an eye on trade, preside over the law-court twice a week.  For the rest I watch the sun rise and set, eat and sleep and am content.
    When I pass away I hope to merit three lines of small print in the Imperial gazette.  I have not asked for more than a quiet life in quiet times.

Just like a great many people we know, yes? Just like us, perhaps.

But to this dusty outpost of the Empire comes Colonel Joll. The Colonel has news: There are barbarians in the mountains. And he and his troops ride out to find them. When he returns, the Magistrate is surprised to see who they are: simple peasants and vagrants who represent no threat to the Empire.

Colonel Joll interrogates the prisoners. His methods are crude, cruel and effective: He tortures them until they tell him what he wants to hear. Meanwhile, the Magistrate befriends a young female prisoner and, after a while, decides to return her to her family in the mountains.

That is a mistake. So is wondering aloud about the Colonel's analysis of the situation and his interrogation tactics. Clearly, the Magistrate is not to be trusted. Indeed, he must be…a traitor. And so he is charged with treason and jailed.

In 1980, the allegory was a simple one. The Barbarians were the blacks of South Africa . The Empire was the white-ruled South African government. The Magistrate, a Christ surrogate, represented the good intentions of enlightened whites whose wish to “help” only led to more trouble.

Were this historical allegory only, we could read this book at a distance --- or not at all. But “Waiting for the Barbarians,” like all great stories, has a different meaning in a different time. You cannot help but substitute “terrorists” for “barbarians” as you read this book. And the torture scenes….let us just say that, in the late 1970s, Coetzee described realities that wouldn't become true until 2003.

Butler realizes that his writing here doesn't exactly “sell” this book. What is in it for you? Let's put it bluntly: We live in a time when we will be tested (or are already being tested). Who are our barbarians? What purpose do they serve? And who, in the end, are we?

Think of “Waiting for the Barbarians” as a dry run, a practice exam. And know that, some day, you may be glad you considered these questions when you still had the leisure to do so.

-- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com

To buy "Waiting for the Barbarians" from Amnazon.com, click here.

Copyright 2004 by Head Butler Inc.