Life and Times of Michael K (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: J. M. Coetzee
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: The 1980’s
- Setting: Cape Town, South Africa, and the adjacent countryside
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Political fiction
- Subjects: Politics, Revolutions, 1980’s, Farms, farmers, or farming, Survivalism, Government, Military life or service, South Africa or South Africans, Civil wars, Apartheid
- Locales: South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Characters Discussed
Michael K, a thirty-one-year-old black South African, homeless, propertyless, deformed by a harelip curled like a snail’s foot, and slow of mind. Brought up at Huis Norenius, a school for poor and abandoned children, Michael K lives a life of solitude and isolation, working as a gardener for the city of Cape Town and eventually taking to the war-ravaged countryside in a continuous and unsuccessful effort to find a sanctuary. A gardener at an abandoned farmhouse in the country, a wanderer in the mountains, a prisoner in relocation or rehabilitation camps,...
[The entire page is 903 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
