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In an interview with J. M. Coetzee in 1983, Tony Morphet comments on the setting of Life & Times of Michael K: "The location of the story is very highly specified. Cape Town — Stellenbosch — Prince Albert — somewhere between 1985–1990" (Coetzee and Morphet, 1987, p. 455). A similar observation might be made of later novels such as Age ofIron and Disgrace, where Coetzee's literary landscapes are evoked with equally striking particularity. The migrations of the fictional characters are meticulously tracked in the recognizable co-ordinates of named towns, roads, and landmarks of South Africa's Cape regions: Salem, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Donkin Square, Guguletu, Buitenkant Street, Schoonder Street, Rondebosch Common, Signal Hill, Touws River, the Outeniqua Mountains and so on. Tony Morphet, in his interview with Coetzee, suggests that the use of familiar place-names brings Michael K "very close to us' (by"us' he means a South African readership), and Morphet asks whether Coetzee is "looking for a more direct and immediate conversation with South African readers' (Coetzee and Morphet, 1987, p. 455). It is tempting to assume immediate reference to — and direct conversation about — the real world when a writer makes use of recognizable names.¹

DOI: 10.1057/9780230227712_8

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