Waiting for the Barbarians

( 14 )
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback
$10
BN.com price
$15.00 List Price (Save 33%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$4.99
$15.00 List Price (Save 67%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (43)  
Used (17)  
New (26)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 5
Showing 1 – 10 of 43 (5 pages)
$4.99
(Save 67%)
GICW Books
Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(719)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Acceptable
Reading copy. May have damage to cover, notes, underlining, highlighting, but all text legible. May have tears to DJ or missing DJ. Purchasing this item helps us provide ... vocational opportunities to people with barriers to employment. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Hillsboro, OR

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.99
(Save 67%)
Silver Arch Books
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(1296)

Condition: Acceptable
Selection as wide as the Mississippi.

Ships from: St Louis, MO

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$7.07
(Save 53%)
southbrooklyntexts
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(234)

Condition: Good
0143116924 Good Condition. Most of our copies have little to no marks or highlighting. Cover and corners show very minor to moderate wear. Spine is great; no loose pages. CDs or ... DVDs, if included with this item, show few or no scratches. Questions welcome. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Brooklyn, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.02
(Save 47%)
Beagle Books CA
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(6672)

Condition: Good
Good 0143116924 Visible shelf wear--may have some notes/markings on pages.

Ships from: San Leandro, CA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.21
(Save 45%)
Books Any
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(1917)

Condition: New
Askew, C C 2010 Trade paperback New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 180 p. Penguin Ink.

Ships from: Valley Stream, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.52
(Save 43%)
Great Book Deals
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(12288)

Condition: New
Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Over 5+ Million Customers served. In business since 1997. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. ... Customer Service toll free upport Monday-Friday EST Hrs. 4 to 14 business day Delivery Time by US Post Office. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Oldsmar, FL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$8.84
(Save 41%)
SuperBookDeals-
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(14111)

Condition: New
Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Ships from: South Bend, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$8.85
(Save 41%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4796)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$8.93
(Save 40%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4796)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$8.93
(Save 40%)
ExpeditedBooksUS
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(889)

Condition: New
Shipped from US. Express shipping in 3 to 6 business days. Standard shipping in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 5
Showing 1 – 10 of 43 (5 pages)
Close
Sort by

Overview

For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.

J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between opressor and opressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes ...

See more details below
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.

J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between opressor and opressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times
'Waiting for the Barbarians is a distinguished piece of fiction, and what Mr. Coetzee has gained from his strategy of creating an imaginary Empire is clear. But are there perhaps losses too? One possible loss is the bite and pain, the urgency that a specified historical place and time may provide. To create a ''universalized'' Empire is to court the risk - especially among sophisticated readers for whom the credos of modernism have become dull axioms -that a narrative with strong political and social references will be ''elevated'' into sterile ruminations about the human condition....I cannot believe this was Mr. Coetzee's intention or, perhaps more important, that it is warranted by his novel itself. True, the Empire is abstract, timeless, placeless; but through the scrim of Empire, 'Waiting for the Barbarians renders a moment in our politics, a style of our injustice. Precisely this power of historical immediacy gives the novel its thrust, its larger and, if you wish, ''universal'' value. -- Irving Howe
Bernard Levin
I have known few authors who can evoke such a wilderness in the heart of a man….Mr. Coetzee knows the elusive terror of Kafka.
—The Sunday Times (London)
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Charles McGrath
....A power of historical immediacy gives this novel its thrust, its larger and, if you wish, universal value. -- The New York Times Books of the Century

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780143116929
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 6/29/2010
  • Pages: 192
  • Sales rank: 106,409
  • Product dimensions: 5.10 (w) x 7.70 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Meet the Author

J. M. Coetzee
J. M. Coetzee

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 9, 1940, John Michael Coetzee studied first at Cape Town and later at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in literature. In 1972 he returned to South Africa and joined the faculty of the University of Cape Town. His works of fiction include Dusklands, Waiting for the Barbarians, which won South Africa’s highest literary honor, the Central News Agency Literary Award, and the Life and Times of Michael K., for which Coetzee was awarded his first Booker Prize in 1983. He has also published a memoir, Boyhood: Scenes From a Provincial Life, and several essays collections. He has won many other literary prizes including the Lannan Award for Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize. In 1999 he again won Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for Disgrace, becoming the first author to win the award twice in its 31-year history. In 2003, Coetzee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Biography

John Maxwell Coetzee was born in 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. He is of both Boer and English descent. His parents sent him to an English school, and he grew up using English as his first language.

At the beginning of the 1960s he moved to England, where he worked initially as a computer programmer. He studied literature in the United States and has gone on to teach at several American universities, the University of Cape Town, and the University of Adelaide.

Coetzee made his debut as a writer of fiction in 1974. His first book, Dusklands was published in South Africa. His international breakthrough came in 1980 with the novel Waiting for the Barbarian. In 1983 he won the Booker Prize in the United Kingdom for Life and Times of Michael K. In 1999, he became the first author to be twice awarded the Booker Prize, this time for his novel, Disgrace. In 2003, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. The Academy cited the astonishing wealth of variety in Coetzee's stories, many of which are set against the backdrop of apartheid.

In addition to his novels, Coetzee has written numerous essays and interviews. His literary criticism has been published in journals and collected into anthologies.

Good To Know

Described by friends as a reclusive and private man, Coetzee did not make the trip to London in 1984 to receive the Booker Prize for Life and Times of Michael K, nor when he again won the prize for Disgrace in 1999.

His 1977 novel, In the Heart of the Country, was filmed as the motion picture Dust in 1985.

Coetzee has also been active as a translator of Dutch and Afrikaans literature.

In 2002, Coetzee emigrated to Australia.

    1. Also Known As:
      John Maxwell Coetzee
    2. Hometown:
      Adelaide, Australia
    1. Date of Birth:
      February 9, 1940
    2. Place of Birth:
      Cape Town, South Africa
    1. Date of Death:
      April 3, 1991
    2. Place of Death:
      Vevey, Switzerland

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 14 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(11)

4 Star

(2)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing all of 14 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 8, 2005

    A classic story

    Waiting for the Barbarians is a fascinating story about a magistrate working for a dysfunctional and corrupt colonial empire that borders on the outskirts of the modern world.. With deep political undertones Coetzee's tale of man against a corrupting society where rebellion and personal redemption are inevitable is what makes this story so full of enlightenment and secured its place as one of the greatest classic stories of the twentieth century. Not easy to relate to, this story nevertheless succinctly confronts the conflicts of positive and negative traits which we all have to confront to become really human in life . This conflict in our souls which are man's unavoidable dilemmas has perhaps been best exposed Coetzee and Dostoyevsky.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 1, 2002

    Could you feel the power?

    In all my years of reading, never have a came across a book so utterly powerful that I acutally, after turing the last page, dropped it and pondered why I exist in this morbid universe. Highly recommended!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2009

    Top of my list

    I could not put this book down. Universal message. Timeless. Will mankind ever learn?

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted January 12, 2009

    What are we waiting for?

    "Waiting for the Barbarians" by J.M. Coetzee is brilliantly written. Coetzee writes a generic novel, applicable to anyone's life. Coetzee leaves the names of things just that. Neither the magistrate of the town or the Empire have names. I found myself in thinking like the Magistrate at critical points in the novel. In the second half of the novel when he is imprisoned the Magistrate questions his purpose in life. He questions why the Empire had to chase down the barbarians in the first place. He did not want responsibility for all the prisoners that the Colonel brought to his camp from the wilderness.
    He is a man searching for his soul in a sea of desolation. His spirit is lost, his power is stripped and he is left with only his conscience. The relationship he forms with his slave haunts him. He is confused by anything meaningful in his life. He has floated through life holding power and commanding sentinels. His curiosity leads him to explore old bones, and through that search he digs up one of the only things worthwhile. The Magistrate tries to save some prisoners. He is in affect trying to save his soul. He cannot bear to have these poor savages trapped in the settlement when could be happy in their forest homes.
    Coetzee forces his reader to question the purpose of their life. He pushes the reader to search his conscience and find what it is that is truly worth fighting for. In the end, we are left guessing the force behind life.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 4, 2008

    Great Book

    This book is fantastic on so many levels. Just who are the barbarians that we all await for? This book is real on so many levels throughout history. It's brilliant.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 5, 2001

    THE BRUTALITY OF HEGEMONY IN A NUTSHELL

    This is without doubt my favorite Coetsee book. In little over 150 pages he strips bare and lays spread eagle humanity at its worst. He gets right to the heart of the human condition and those things that allow ¿good people¿ to suborn man¿s inhumanity to his brethren. Coetsee draws a clear picture of the reality that when might is right, the weak are always the barbarians. But, of course, barbarity is the prerogative of the strong. This book is Kafka, Dostoevsky, and Camus seasoned with Jorge Luis Borges. Anyone interested in human morality should read this little book ¿ twice if you¿re not too tired.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 11, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 4, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 10, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 18, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 16, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 8, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 19, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 3, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 14 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit