Philip Glass Half Full

Dear Mr. Coetzee,

You probably know by now that the great American composer Philip Glass has written an opera based on your novel Waiting for the Barbarians. And perhaps you find this as ironically appropriate as I do. After all, Glass is known for his minimalist compositions, characterized by often-repeating structures. And Waiting for the Barbarians, while focusing on a fundamental change in the “Empire” which the magistrate has not seen in his decades of serving, offers a much broader allegorical statement concerning the repetition of history. Glass saw the story of Waiting for the Barbarians in Iraq today, and perhaps he also recognized that his music would fit the story perfectly for this reason. As Glass says in his notes about his opera of the same name, “To reduce the opera to a single historical circumstance or a particular political regime misses the point. That the opera can become an occasion for dialogue about political crisis illustrates the power of art to turn our attention toward the human dimension of history.”

Indeed, Mr. Coetzee, I presume that this was your original intention in writing Waiting for the Barbarians. The facts that all of your characters—with the exception of the brutal Colonel Joll—remain nameless, and that the time and place remain ambiguous lead me to believe that you had something larger in mind than a story that occurred in a vacuum, in one time, and one place. I love what Glass says about the power of art, and I presume you would too. It may be overstated, but what other medium can “turn our attention toward the human dimension of history” besides art, whether a novel or an opera? I think the “human dimension” can be found in particular in the narrator’s physical yet sexless relationship with one of the barbarians. Whereas the harsh military officer (Joll) and the hopeless government aide (the magistrate) are stock character in nearly every historical story about the oppressor and the oppressed, the barbarian woman provides a deeply personal aspect to this story that Glass and I both apparently love. So thank you, Mr. Coetzee, for adding not one, but two works of art exploring the timeless themes of war and love.

Your fan,
Jack

PS. Just because I presume you have a fondness for works by Philip Glass and for saxophone quartet, please visit the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI1iQfQT9K4