Author : Tala Hussein Suleiman-Haidar
Publisher :
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 33,68 MB
Release : 1997
Category :
ISBN :
This thesis focuses on the valuable thematic intensity of J.M. Coetzee's fiction and its fulfillment of a moral obligation more than on its stylistic aspects. The analysis shows how Coetzee weaves the following interrelated themes into the fabric of his novels: the defiance of the patriarchal values and gender differences, the interdependability of history and storytelling, the racial tension and devious ways of interrogation, the oppressive-oppressed language, and the power struggle of authorship. All these tensions are predicated on the I /You or Us /Other binary opposition Unlike some other anti-apartheid writers, Coetzee refuses political prescriptiveness in his fiction and employs a gracefully elusive and indirect approach in depicting the atrocities of out times and in delivering his ethical messages. This thesis tackles three of Coetzee's novels, In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians, and Foe, in their original chronological order that emphasizes the gradual evolution of my thesis reaching a crescendo with Foe. Coetzee weaves the different tensions in these novels to show that the chasm between the Us and the Other cannot be completely bridged yet can be made much narrower through clear-sighted awareness of the indisputable reality of pain for all human beings, and the honest devotion to the land whose healing power is underscored by the author. The universality of the body in pain necessitates a measure of charity, or pity, to enable grace to allegorize itself in the world. Without doubt, Coetzee is calling for this salutary grace to inscribe itself in people's hearts.