THE BREAD OF FREEDOM
Anita Desai
Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee Seeker & Warburg, London, 1984, 250 pp., £7.95
Jan-Feb 1984, volume 8, No 4

The very title of Coetzee’s new book establishes it as an allegory within a certain tra¬dition and therefore raises certain expectations which are, however, quickly belied: Life and Times of Michael K has the strength of its own moral convictions and does not need to rely on Kafka for autho¬rity. The reference to K is therefore entirely gratuitous and one that Coetzee could have done without.

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