image of person or book cover 6327211767582121771.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
Issue Details: First known date: 1993... 1993 J.M. Coetzee : South Africa and the Politics of Writing
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'David Attwell defends the literary and political integrity of the South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, arguing that he has absorbed the textual turn of postmodern culture while still addressing his nation's ethical crisis. As a form of "situational metafiction," Coetzee's novels are shown to reconstruct and critique some of the key discourses in the history of colonialism and apartheid from the eighteenth century to the present. While self-conscious about fiction-making, Coetzee's work takes seriously the condition of the society in which it is produced. Attwell begins by describing the intellectual and political contexts of Coetzee's fiction. He proceeds with a developmental analysis of the corpus of six novels, drawing on Coetzee's other writings in stylistics, literary criticism, translation, political journalism, and popular culture. Attwell's elegantly written analysis deals both with Coetzee's subversion of the dominant culture around him and with his ability to grasp the complexities of giving voice to the anguish of South Africa.' (Publisher's summary)

Notes

  • Contents:

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction – p.1

    Contexts: Literary, historical, intellectual – p.9

    "The labyrinth of my history": Dusklands and the heart of the country – p.35

    Reading the signs of history: Waiting for the barbarians – p.70

    Writing in "the cauldrons of history": Life and times of Michael K and Foe – p.88

    Conclusion: Age of iron – p.118

    Notes – p. 125

    Works cited

    Index

  • Dedication: For Joan and Kate

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 10 Dec 2014 10:44:21
X