Some novels predict things before they happen. Is this just a coincidence, or is it a visionary vision, an exercise of imagination, and an attempt to fathom the depths of societies in the turmoil of their interactions and turmoil?
This is what columnist Caroline de Gruyter tried to find an answer to in her article in the American magazine “Foreign Policy”, inspired by the novel “Waiting for the Barbarians” by the South African writer J.M. Coetzee.
The article came after the violence that spread Britain Between far-right supporters and the police, against the backdrop of the stabbing of three young girls by a teenage immigrant 10 days ago in the coastal city of Southport in the northwest of the country, which was falsely said to have been committed by a young Muslim man.
De Gruyter said the violence perpetrated by the far right in Britain reminded her of the novel, which was published in the 1980s and became famous after its author won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.
Feeding on lies and biases
She added that Coetzee explains in his short novel the reasons and how this type of violence erupted, namely that societies have been fed lies and racist prejudices for a long time, after which an image of strangers (in this novel they are from the nomadic barbarian tribes) has been formed in people’s minds that no longer has any connection to reality.
The author took the title of his novel, which is considered one of the most important literary works of the 20th century, from a famous poem by the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933), who was born in Alexandria, and who says at the end of it: “Some border soldiers arrived and said that the barbarians no longer exist. Now, without the barbarians, what will become of us? These barbarians were a solution.”
The central character in Waiting for the Barbarians is a middle-aged judge who has for years run a quiet frontier settlement of an unnamed empire. Nothing of note happens in the village; everyone knows everyone.
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The subjects of that empire and the barbarians who lived on the other side of the porous border, used to completely ignore the laws so that they could go about their business without disturbing others; the barbarians would come to the village for food and medicine and then return.
humanity with courtesy
Although the judge’s job is to enforce the law, he tries to enforce it in a humane, courteous way. When there is an occasional cattle raid, for example, he has serious conversations with those who did it. He rarely jails the perpetrators, and when he does, they are fed, kept clean and often released early. “I have believed in civilized behavior all my life,” he says.
He believes that conflicts do not benefit anyone and should be avoided. Certainly, nothing in this life is perfect, but his view preserves peace and makes societies live in a degree of calm and coexistence.
The General’s Coming
Then one day, a delegation from Imperial Intelligence (which the author calls the Third Bureau), led by General Joll, visits the village. Joll is a stubborn bureaucrat, convinced that the Bedouin tribes are secretly preparing to attack the Empire. He returns to the village after a reconnaissance mission in search of rebels and extremists, bringing with him several suspects in handcuffs.
The novel describes these suspects as terrified. Suddenly the prison is filled with inmates who are being humiliated, starved and tortured. The judge tries to stop this by saying, “These are hunters, not rebels!”, but General Joll pays no attention to him and continues to torture the barbarians until everyone “confesses” to their guilt.
Once the general leaves the village, the judge begins feeding the prisoners and releases most of them. Among them is a Bedouin girl whose wounds he treats, whose feet he washes, and with whom he sleeps. Eventually, he returns her to her tribe. When he returns home after a long journey, he finds that Jules has returned, accuses the judge of treason for “colluding with the enemy,” and throws him into the same prison as the barbarians.
Normalization of barbarism
But no one comes to the judge’s aid; many of the villagers are as hysterical as the general, while the rest have simply gone into hiding. Every barbarian now seems to them like a terrorist, and every behavior they once considered normal is now suspicious. In the end, the village itself is destroyed without ever being attacked by a single barbarian.
The village was in ruins after most of its inhabitants had deserted it, even the general and his men. The judge remained, unable to find a refuge. As soon as the harsh winter came, he began to feel how stupid he was, “like a man who had lost his way long ago but who continues on a path, not knowing where it will lead him.”
De Gruyter believes that the novel is particularly relevant today, even though it was published in 1980. In his novel, which is about his country South Africa during the apartheid regime, Coetzee reveals how easy it is for a few fanatics to upend societies that have always lived in peace with each other. All they have to do is plant false and frightening rumors about a certain group, integrate them into a larger narrative about the sovereignty, nation, and security being at risk, and then start pumping out the story. If citizens are terrified, they will be willing to believe anything, according to the author of the article.
