Well, here goes. The first book I picked to read for the challenge was Coetzee's Dusklands. While technically two novellas, 'The Vietnam Project' and 'The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee', I think it works best as it is presented, as one work because of how the two different men's experiences reflect off of each other. 'The Vietnam Project', the first of the two, is about a man tasked with constructing a more effective form of psychological warfare against the Vietcong and the disastrous effects this has on his mental well being. Through exposure to the worst the war had to offer Dawn, the main character, seems to begin to detest all life, eventually going crazy.
The second story, 'The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee' is about an 18th century Dutchmen landowner in Africa on an elephant hunting expedition. When he falls ill he is taken in by a native village he had earlier come into conflict with. His pride as a white man explorer amongst savages again brings him into conflict with them and they expel him from the village, but keep all his supplies, cattle, guns, and food, and all but one of his slaves desert him and stay with these people. On the long trek home, and after his last remaining slave falls ill and he leaves him, Jacobus encounters a fire for life at the most basic level, calling himself a white bushman, romping in the dirt, naked except for his shoes, which he won't forgo, and even entertains the idea of abandoning his properties remaining a wild man, but decides better of it and returns home extinguishing that fire.
Either story on its own is great, but when read in succession they further illuminate the madness that these two men encounter. A fantastic, though at times tedious, read, and well worth your time and patience
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