# Waiting for the Barbarians

**Author:** J. M. Coetzee
**Grade range:** Grades 11–12
**Age range:** 16–17
**First published:** 1980
**Page count:** 178
**Genre:** Realistic Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9781713524250`
**ISBN-10:** `1713524252`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/waiting-for-the-barbarians
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

For decades the Magistrate has run the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement, ignoring the impending war between the barbarians and the Empire, whose servant he is. But when the interrogation experts arrive, he is jolted into sympathy for the victims, and into a quixotic act of rebellion which lands him in prison.

## Themes

- administradores coloniales
- allegorías
- colonial administrators
- ficción

## Where this book is assigned

### Cambridge AS & A-Level English Literature (9695)

- **required** · 11th grade — [source: Prescribed set text for Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695), Paper 4 Section B (Post-1900), for examination in 2027. Transcribed from the official Cambridge International syllabus (721410-2027-2028-syllabus.pdf). Set texts rot](https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-international-as-and-a-level-literature-in-english-9695/)
- **required** · 12th grade — [source: Prescribed set text for Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695), Paper 4 Section B (Post-1900), for examination in 2027. Transcribed from the official Cambridge International syllabus (721410-2027-2028-syllabus.pdf). Set texts rot](https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-international-as-and-a-level-literature-in-english-9695/)

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