 |
||||
|
Summary of "Youth"
The young man lives in a room in Cape Town and he attends the University. He studies mathematics, English and philosophy. He is 19 years old and he has several jobs to be able to be financially independent and not having to rely on his parents. His ambition is to become an artist - a poet - but wonders if he has the gift. What must he go through to become an artist and how does he find the inspiration? Does great poetry come from a life in dispair, suffering, loneliness or love? He looks for guidance in works by T S Eliot and Ezra Pound. After the university when the problems in South Africa are escalating and he fears being drafted he moves to England. He finds a job as a computer programmer. At the same time he writes a thesis about Ford Madox Ford. Life in London is not easy and he does not fit in. He is waiting for the inspiration and the right girl to come into his life. He loves women but at the same time they are disturbing him and then he cannot write. This novel about Coetzee's youth is just like "Boyhood" a fictionalized biography so it is difficult to know what is true and what is fiction. This is, however, a wonderful book about a young man desperately reaching for a dream that seems so far away. He shares his experiences in his new country and his thoughts about the soul-killing job as a programmer. He knows that in time he will become a poet if only he perseveres.
|
Book Summaries Fiction Book Awards |
|
||
|
Copyright 2004-2006 Book-Summary.Net
|
||||
