Expert lecture on waiting for Barbarians.

" Pain is truth; all else is subject to  doubt. "

This line is written by J. M. Coetzee in his Novel " Waiting For The Barbarians. "  On 8th and 9th January we had a expect lecture on this Novel. The lecture is arrange by our proff. and Head of department Dr. Dilip Barad. R. B. Zala sir has came form the surashtra university for talk.

About the author : 

J. M. Coetzee in full John Maxwell  Coetzee is South - African born novelist, easiest, linguist, and translator. Coetzee's first novel was Dusklands (1974) and he has continued to produce novels at the rate of about one every three years.

Award won by coetzee :

•  Booker prize 1893 for Life & Times of Michael k. 
• Booker prize 1993 for Disgrace.
• Nobel prize 2003 
• Three-time winner of South Africa's CNA Prize.

Summary of Waiting For The Barbarians:

Waiting For The Barbarians is allegorical Novel. The novel has so many symbolism from it very beginning. The novel start with the Senates " I have never seen anything like it. " Here he talked about the black glasses. Now a days we see the warning a goggles is very common. By looking this sentence we can say that may be at that time goggles is new invention. And through this symbolism we can say that the whole novel can be a symbolic it self and that thing we can see from very beginning. 

When we look at the Novel we see that the only colonel Joll is named in novel. Apart from him there is no character is named. The protagonist it self is known as magistrate even he is not named.  When we look at his character we realized that he is symbolized as the colonizer and the barbarians girl is symbolized as the colonized people. Through both if them the relationship between colonized and colonizer is shown. 

In Novel we see that the torture on the barbarian girl is shown as torture on colonized people shown. How people are suffering in that country is shown in novel. 

Character : 

• The Magistrate
• Barbarian girl
• Colonel Joll
• The birdlike girl
• Warrant officer Madel

Theme of the Novel : 

• Colonialism
• Imperialism
• Interrogation
• Male sexuality
• Power
• Rape

Comparison with other novel :

Professor R. B. Zala sir has reffed other novel while he was talking about this Novel. 

He referred The Tempest and say that how this Novel has given the voice to minor character like Caliban. The same way he also refer the character of the Friday from Robinson Crusoe. 

Learning outcome : 

When I attained the lecture I realized that how we can read allegorical novel. And how our perspective change by role of gender, also how we look and behave with the person who is not from our race  and also not from our Religion.