When we enter old age, what kind of state will our life take? Will our body and mind change? Will the passion of our previous life be slowly exhausted? Will we enter a state of twilight years?
Writers have such a mission, to dig deep into the traces left by age on us human beings, to reflect on the various possibilities of our lives, and to explore the true meaning of life.
J.M. Coetzee, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, is a testament to his previous work. In 2003, the author was over 60 years old when he won the award, and he had already entered his old age, so his first full-length work "Slow Man" after winning the award is to present us with the real state of the life of the elderly and gain insight into the value of life.
In this novel, the author uses the sixty-year-old Raymont as the starting point of the novel. And the beginning of the novel is another dilemma in his life, he was in an accident while riding a bicycle, so he was also taken to the hospital, and there was an emergency process.
But when he woke up, he was told he had lost a leg. From his account, we also know that he has been divorced for many years, has no children and no daughters, lost contact with his relatives, has been living in isolation and obscurity, and now he has lost a leg and can only have care to serve his life.
His first caregiver didn't satisfy him, so a nurse named Mariana came into his life. And her good service also won Raymond's praise.
Of course, as a man, Raymond also has his own fantasies, fantasies about something happening with this nurse. But he did not put this fantasy into action, but silently watched. When he heard that Mariana's son was going to an aristocratic school, he made a wish to sponsor it. However, there will inevitably be a series of chain reactions in this process.
The novel also introduces us to the perspective of another bystander, a novelist named Elizabeth, who hopes to restore Raymond's life in its entirety. Of course, because of her participation, the story of the novel has become more tortuous, and at the same time, we can also see more cognition of life from her perspective.
In the novel, Raymond and Mariana's son, daughter, and husband are also involved in such stories. For example, Mariana's husband's suspicion of Raymond's purpose. He suspects that Raymond and Mariana have an illicit relationship, and so on, and the novel also presents a diverse perspective for reflection.
So what does the final novel show us? The ending will definitely exceed the imagination of all readers, and the author also leaves us with a wonderful fantasy space.
But the psychology of the old man that the whole story presents to us is worth pondering, and it is also a man who has lost a leg, in this process, he will inevitably doubt the value of his existence, and he will inevitably seek a corresponding way out, so there is this series of stories.
One reader said, "By the end of this book, I felt a genuine sympathy for the closed humanity of slow people – of course, because some parts of me are also slow people." In a sense, each of us has a part of the characteristics of slow people, so let's use this book to deeply understand such a group in our lives, and give them greater tolerance and better care. #诺奖##文学##库切#