J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace. A Realistic Criticism of ‘New’ South-Africa‪?‬

Ever since its publication in 1999, J.M. Coetzee’s award-winning novel Disgrace has stirred up a lot of controversy. Its negative depiction of blacks has been seen as an endorsement of white racist stereotypes. In this essay, I first analyze the degree of realism in Disgrace. Second, I assess how Disgrace can be read as a criticism of "New South Africa", a decade after the dismantling of the Apartheid system