First published 1996
In Giving Offense, acclaimed novelist J.M. Coetzee dissects the twisted dynamic between censors and the censored. From Mandelstam's ode to Stalin to Solzhenitsyn's cat-and-mouse with the Soviet state, Coetzee explores how authors have navigated the minefield of political suppression. He also tackles Catharine MacKinnon's arguments for banning pornography, and critiques the blankness of apartheid's origins. A searing, unsentimental look at the personal costs of creative expression under duress.
Genres: 20th-century, non-fiction, criticism, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
297 pages · Hardcover · University of Chicago Press