Disgrace: A Novel ( J. M. Coetzee)

Disgrace takes its inspiration from South Africa's contemporary social and political conflict, and offers a bleak look at a country in transition.   By resisting the relegation of each group into positive and negative poles Coetzee portrays the whole range of human capabilities and emotions.
 
Set in post-apartheid South Africa, Disgrace tells the story of David Lurie, a twice divorced, 52-year-old university professor.  Lurie believes he has created a comfortable, if somewhat passionless, life for himself.  Though his position at the university has been reduced, he teaches his classes dutifully; and while age has diminished his attractiveness, weekly visits to a prostitute satisfy his sexual needs. He considers himself happy. But when Lurie seduces one of his students, he sets in motion a chain of events that will shatter his complacency and leave him utterly disgraced.
 
In 2019 BBC News listed Disgrace on its list of the 100 most influential novels.
 
J.M. Coetzee (1940-) is a South African-born novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language. He has won the Booker Prize (twice), the CNA Prize (thrice), the Jerusalem Prize, the Prix Femina étranger, and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and holds a number of other awards and honorary doctorates.