Foe by J.M. Coetzee (1986)

Nobel Prize laureate J.M. Coetzee has taken Daniel Dofoe's Robinson Crusoe as his starting point for this novel, adding a woman, Susan Barton, who finds herself stranded on the island where Cruso and Friday have been living for some years. After they are rescued by a passing ship a year later, Cruso dies during the voyage to England, leaving Susan to assume responsibility for the mute Friday. Arriving back in London, Susan contacts the writer Daniel Foe about taking the facts known to her about Cruso's island sojourn and writing a book that would appeal to the public and provide upkeep for herself and Friday. But Foe wants to add embellishments, turning the facts into something more exciting.

To tell the truth, nothing much happens in this novel, exciting or otherwise. A reader looking for entertainment would be looking in the wrong place. It is obviously meant to be read as an allegory/fable, but I could never decide what truths I was supposed to perceive. Coetzee is a native of South Africa and wrote this novel when apartheid was still in force, so (I think) the black man Friday's voicelessness and his white protector Susan's inability to make her voice heard would represent the political situation at that time. It seems, though, that there must be more to be learned. I just can't figure out what.

I believe that an effective allegorical novel should provide interest on two levels--the literal and the metaphorical. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians does that brilliantly. Foe may examine important ideas and issues, but as a story it is less than successful. This is one of the most boring novels I have ever read.


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As it turns out, I am apparently not the only one a bit vague about Coetzee's intentions. After I wrote the above, I checked out several internet scholarly articles about the book from universities and journals and so on. None of the experts agreed. Everybody took away something different. It seems to me that if an author wants to impart big ideas, he should make them clear enough that most people would perceive them in a similar way. But I'm not an academic, so what do I know?