Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

The Schooldays of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee

by
October 2016, no. 385

The Schooldays of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee

Text Publishing, $34.99 hb, 288 pp, 9781925355789

The Schooldays of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee

by
October 2016, no. 385

In order to grasp the complexity of allusions in J.M. Coetzee's new novel, The Schooldays of Jesus, you need to have your wits about you. On the other hand, as with its prequel, The Childhood of Jesus (2013), the novel may also be read fairly simply, as a fable. As a sequel to the first 'Jesus' novel, it progresses the story of Simón, Inés, and David, the 'holy family,' as they continue their journey, with their dog Bolívar, from the town named Novilla to a new town, Estrella, meaning 'star' in Spanish, in an unspecified Spanish-speaking country.

As in the earlier novel, there is no character called Jesus; only teasing biblical references that provide an allegorical substratum to the fable-like surface story and that, along with the novel's title, tempt the reader into equating David with Jesus. So Simón is not his real father, but has taken him under his wing as a kind of 'godfather'; Inés is not his real mother, but has been chosen by Simón to act as David's mother. In The Schooldays of Jesus, when David is asked whose son he is, he replies: 'Nobody's.' Later he declares, 'I wanted to be a lifesaver but they wouldn't let me.' Simón can't tell David for sure if he was born 'out of Inés's tummy', as memories and past experiences have been wiped clean in the process of starting their new lives. 'Unable to remember, all you can do, all she can do, all any of us can do is to make up stories,' is Simón's response to David's question about his birth.

Sue Kossew reviews 'The Schooldays of Jesus' by J.M. Coetzee

The Schooldays of Jesus

by J.M. Coetzee

Text Publishing, $34.99 hb, 288 pp, 9781925355789

From the New Issue

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.