''In the Heart of the Country'' (1977) is an early novel by
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n-born writer
J. M. Coetzee
John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...
. The book is one of Coetzee's more experimental novels and is narrated through 266 numbered paragraphs rather than chapters.
Plot
The novel is narrated from the point of view of Magda, the white daughter of a widowed farmer in the
Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...
semi-desert of the Western Cape. Much of the novel is narrated from within the claustrophobic confines of Magda's bedroom and throughout the narrative the unreliability of Magda's narration means the reader cannot be certain what is actually taking place and what is occurring within Magda's imagination. At the beginning of the novel Magda fantasizes about her father unexpectedly bringing home a young bride and the violent way that she would kill them both. A short while later the black farm worker Hendrik really does bring a young bride named Anna to the farm. Magda's father seduces Anna and when Magda hears her father and Anna fornicating in the farmhouse bedroom, she takes her father's rifle and shoots him in the stomach. He slowly dies of his injuries and Magda buries him in a makeshift crypt on the farmland. Gradually, without her father to manage the land, the food begins to run out and Hendrik, who is owed wages, demands to be paid. Magda pays him in kind by offering him certain items from her father's former possessions. Hendrik and Anna move into the farmhouse and the power balance begins to tip in their favour. After a series of altercations, Hendrik rapes Magda and begins to visit her room every night for sexual intercourse. When white men from nearby farms turn up looking for Magda's father, Hendrik and Anna flee fearing that they will blamed for his death. The novel ends with Magda isolated on the farm, slowly starving and seemingly going mad, as she tries to communicate with the planes that are beginning to fly over the desert every day.
Development history
Coetzee has stated that the 'brief sequences' that narrate the novel are fundamentally influenced by filmic and photographic modes of representation. He cites
Chris Marker's La Jetée
''La Jetée'' () is a 1962 French science fiction featurette directed by Chris Marker and associated with the French New Wave#Left Bank, Left Bank artistic movement. still image film, Constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the sto ...
and
Andrzej Munk's Passenger
A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...
as particular influences. Moreover, Coetzee explains that the numbered paragraphs should act like film scenes in that they point to 'what is not there between them'.
There are three versions of the novel in existence: the 1977 British version, the 1977 American version which was the same but published under the title ''From The Heart Of The Country'', and the 1978 South African version. In the South African version the novel's dialogue is in Afrikaans.
Awards and nominations
The novel was awarded the 1977
CNA Prize.
Adaptations
Marion Hänsel
Marion Hänsel (née Ackermann; 12 February 1949 – 8 June 2020)motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
adaptation, ''
Dust
Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes ...
,'' in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
.
[Maslin, Janet (1986-10-31). "Movie Review: Dust (1985)". ''New York Times''. Retrieved 2009-08-01.]
Further reading
*
References
{{J. M. Coetzee
1977 novels
Secker & Warburg books
Harper & Row books
South African novels adapted into films
Novels by J. M. Coetzee
Novels set in South Africa