The lives of animals

134 Pages·1999·0.97 MB·English

by  J. M. Coetzee

THE LIVES OF ANIMALS
THE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR
HUMAN VALUES SERIES
AMY GUTMANN, EDITOR
Multiculturalismand“ThePoliticsofRecognition”
byCharlesTaylor
AMatterofInterpretation:FederalCourtsandtheLaw
byAntoninScalia
FreedomofAssociation
editedbyAmyGutmann
WorkandWelfare
byRobertM.Solow
TheLivesofAnimals
byJ.M.Coetzee
The Lives of Animals
❖ ❖
J. M. COETZEE
MARJORIE GARBER
PETER SINGER
WENDY DONIGER
BARBARA SMUTS
❖
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY
AMY GUTMANN
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright1999byPrincetonUniversityPress
PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet,
Princeton,NewJersey08540
IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,
Chichester,WestSussex
AllRightsReserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Thelivesofanimals/J.M.Coetzee...[etal.];edited
andintroducedbyAmyGutmann.
p. cm.—(UniversityCenterforHumanValuesseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-691-00443-9(cl:alk.paper)
1.Animalrights—Philosophy. 2.Animalwelfare—Moral
andethicalaspects. I.Coetzee,J.M.,1940– .
II.Gutmann,Amy. III.Series.
HV4708.L57 1999
179′.3—dc21 98-39591
ThisbookhasbeencomposedinJanson
Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetsthe
minimumrequirementsof
ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992(R1997)
(PermanenceofPaper)
http://pup.princeton.edu
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
CONTENTS
❖
INTRODUCTION
AmyGutmann 3
THE LIVES OF ANIMALS
J.M.Coetzee
ThePhilosophersandtheAnimals 15
ThePoetsandtheAnimals 47
REFLECTIONS
MarjorieGarber 73
PeterSinger 85
WendyDoniger 93
BarbaraSmuts 107
CONTRIBUTORS
121
INDEX
123
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THE LIVES OF ANIMALS
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INTRODUCTION
❖
Amy Gutmann
❖
“S
ERIOUSNESS is, for a certain kind of artist,an imperativeunit-
ing the aesthetic and the ethical,” John Coetzee wrote in Giving
Offense: Essays onCensorship. In TheLivesofAnimals,the1997–98
Tanner Lectures at Princeton University, John Coetzee displays
the kind of seriousness that can unite aesthetics and ethics. Like
the typical Tanner Lectures, Coetzee’s lectures focus on an im-
portant ethical issue—the way human beings treat animals—but
theformofCoetzee’slecturesisfarfromthetypicalTannerLec-
tures,whicharegenerallyphilosophicalessays.Coetzee’slectures
arefictionalinform:twolectureswithintwolectures,whichcon-
tain a critique of a more typical philosophical approach to the
topic of animal rights. Coetzee prompts us to imagine an aca-
demic occasion (disconcertingly like the Tanner Lectures) in
whichthe characterElizabeth Costello, also anovelist,isinvited
byherhostsatAppletonCollegetodelivertwohonorificlectures
onatopicofherchoice.Costellosurprisesherhostsbynotdeliv-
ering lectures on literature or literary criticism, her most appar-
entareasofacademicexpertise.Rathershetakestheopportunity
to discuss in detail what she viewsas a “crimeof stupefying pro-
portions” that her academiccolleagues andfellow human beings
routinely and complacentlycommit: the abuse of animals.
Coetzee dramatizes the increasingly difficult relationships be-
tween the aging novelist Elizabeth Costello and her family and
professional colleagues. She progressively views her fellow
3