South African born author J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003, tries to draw the portrait of a nameless empire suffering under the consequences of a cordial hate which is actually based on nothing but ignorance. Waiting for the Barbarians deals with racial injustice, depression, sadism and especially, with hatred and fear.

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The story is set in a tiny frontier settlement, where the Magistrate has ruled the town for decades, being in fact only a servant of the Empire. One day, the peaceful life he is leading brusquely comes to an end when Colonel Joll and his special forces invade the town. Since the Empire suspects the barbarians are preparing an attack, he is to undertake certain steps, to do whatever is needed to scare them off. They capture a whole bunch of barbarians, torture them and kill some in front of the citizens, after which a new project against them is started. In the meantime, the Magistrate gets involved with a barbarian girl, with whom he shares a strange love affair.
Coetzee can be regarded as a postcolonial writer, who is using the nameless empire as an allegory. You don’t need a name to understand the horror of oppressed and oppressor. By means of the protagonist, the Magistrate, the author describes in a touching way the frustration and not understanding any human might feel when confronted with a regime that exists only to destroy everything that is not like it. The reader is taken from compassion to a certain anger of which the root is pure impotence.
The strength of the book lies in its wealth of artistic talent combined with the above content of a helpless man confronted with an ever powerful Empire. Coetzee’s language is elusive, straightforward, exquisite and stunning. The tension is tangible throughout the whole novel and holds your attention until the bitter end.