The Waiting for Barbarian

The Waiting for Barbarian 

             Department of English, Dilip Barad sir organized guest lecture. Dilip Barad sir invited R. B. Zala sir for "Waiting for Barbarian" from saurastra University. He has good skill of intersection and deep reading in text. I got a lot of help this lecture.  R. B. Zala sir is a very knowledgeable man. 

* About Author :-
             
                 

                    J. M. Coetzee full name is John Maxwell Coetzee. John Maxwell Coetzee born 9 February 1940 is a south-African,  Novelist,  essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He has also won the Booker prize. He is decorated authors in the English language. He is first novel was Dusklands (1974), and he second novel was "Waiting for Barbarian" (1980), and he has continued to produce novels at the rate of about one every three years. 

* Plot Summary :- 

                  The Story in unnamed magistrate. The magistrate's rather peaceful existence comes to an end with the empire's declaration of a state of emergency and the deployment of the third bureau-special forces of the empire-due to rumours that the area's indigenous people, called "Barbarians" by the colonist, might be preparing to attack the town. Colonels Joll has been dispatched to investigate whether Military action is needed. The magistrate begins to question the legitimacy of imperialism and personally nurses a barbarian girl was left crippled and party blinded by the third Bureau's torturers. 

                   The magistrate has an in uncertain relationship with the girl. The third bureau soldiers have reappeared there and now arrest the magistrate for having deserted his post and the enemy. He finally acquires a key that allows him to leave the makeshift jail. Colonel Joll triumphantly returns from the wilderness with barbarian. The magistrate a group of soldiers hangs him up by his arms, deepening his understanding of imperialistic violence by personal experience of torture. The soldiers begin to flee the town as winter approaches and campaign the barbarians collapses. The magistrate tries to confront joll on his final return from the wild. There is no sign of the barbarians by the time the season's first snow falls on the town. 

* Major Character :-

(1) The Magistrate :- 

             He is the story's first person narrator. Territory belonging to an unnamed empire. His work is to give punishment to Barbarian.

(2) The girl :- 

                     The named girl is one of joll's torture during the campaign against the barbarians. She is silent voice in this novel. She is the symbol of magistrate sympathy. 

(3) Mandel :- 

                         Mandel is colonel Joll's henchman. He's a blue-eyed, blonde, muscular, attractive man who does much of joll's dirty work. He is the sadistic officer who personally tortures the magistrate.

(4) Colonel Joll :- 

                             He was an official in the mysterious third bureau and an arm of the civil guard. He was created to protect the empire, which is threatened by barbarians.

(5) Mai :- 

                          Mai is the scullery cook with the magistrate starts a sexual relationship, although both parties are ashamed of their arrangement. 

* Central Themes :- 

(1) Savagery and Barbarism

(2) Truth

(3) Dominance and Musculinity

(4) imperialism 

(5) Colonialism 

(6) Male sexuality 

* Comparison with other texts :- 

(1) Robinson Crusoe 

(2) The Tempest

*The most striking unique Feature of this novel.

(1) Post colonial studies

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