Read "Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee

"Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee

Slawomir Maslon

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Description:Most of the novels of J.M. Coetzee are founded on the same structural principle: within the bounds of the narrative an empty space is introduced, an enigma that the narrative will try to unravel but by which it will be ultimately defeated. In his earlier novels, the confrontation between the enigma and the explanatory narrative is played out within the space of the colonial discourse usually figured in the relation between a victim and a liberal representative of the colonial power abhorring the "everyday" methods of control used by the rulers. In fact, in Coetzee's writing the inability of the subjugated to express themselves becomes progressively more and more acute: while the barbarian girl does not know how to answer theMagistrate because she does not know what he wants from her (Waiting for the Barbarians), in Michael K this inability becomes somehow "naturalised" as he is hare lipped and "not clever with words" (Life and Times of Michael K), and ultimately Friday is not able to speak because of the paradigmatic (and metaphoric) colonial mutilation of the cutting out of his tongue. Within the context of the liberal novel discourse this attitude is quite familiar and can be subsumed under the Levinasian approach promulgated by the multiculturalist discourse as a novelistic version of the "respect for the other." As the victim of colonialism is disadvantaged in all respects, not only being the subject of naked violence and cultural subjugation but also having no means of expressing his predicament (lack of intellectual "tools" to "give voice" to himself), the only respectful attitude towards the victim that the liberal writer can take is to try to present the unfortunate protagonist as the unsurpassable challenge that cannot be overcome by the discourse of he novelist (ultimately the representative of colonising power). Thus the meaning of the victim remains inaccessible within such discourse, although it leaves its trace there, the trace that will always constitute a challenge. But this is not all, for within the context of such liberal attitude the irretrievable meaning of the victim does not only pose the inaccessible truth as the truth of pain of which it is impossible to speak by definition but this very impossibility seems to radiate a certain transcendence, a certain human universal, the properly existential meaning of what it is to be a human being, which can be summarised as "this fragile creature who can be hurt." In this context, after a series of "enigmatic" novels, Coetzee's Age of Iron takes an unexpected step: from its narrative the central "inaccessibility" characteristic of the earlier novels vanishes and what appears in its place is the split colonised other: on the one hand, the actual violent insurgent against apartheid, on the other, the black alcoholic derelict. What is more, these two incompatible attitudes are confronted by a proper representative of the liberal discourse complete with the sanction of the ideal of "harmonious" humanity bestowed on her by her education - a retired university lecturer on the classics. And although Age of Iron is in many respects artistically inferior to its predecessors, or perhaps because it is inferior - that is, because the crucial antagonism in it escapes to some extent being aesthetically dissimulated - the truth of the inaccessible other is put into a sharper focus: the chiasmus appears which illustrates why the other's ineffable trace is only a ruse of the colonialist discourse. In such a confrontation both the speakable and the unspeakable situate themselves on each side of the split. When the other appears in the form of the insurgent, the "humanist" discourse knows exactly what is the meaning of the message of the other (violent overthrow of power) but such message is within the liberalist discourse utterly incomprehensible (how can he sacrifice all that is "human" in him for "death-driven male constructions). When the other is incarnated by the derelict, his meaning is incomprehensible (what is his dark secret which makes him live like that?), while his message is perfectly understood: he demands pity and human heart. One should notice that only in the second case is something akin to the kernel of transcendence (amenable to be novelistically developed and amplified) hidden (the dark secret, the cause of becoming the victim), while the insurgent is taken to be utterly transparent - his motivations are all too obvious and therefore not amenable to becoming a subject of a "humanistic" novel which would treat them as simplistic propaganda lacking in "human" truth, that is, in an existential dimension. Yet, the choice encountered here is only twofold: either the truth of the black alcoholic, if it exists, has to be expressed in the language of the struggle (e.g. as dropping out of it), or his truth will become installed as a fascinating enigmatic image of the irretrievable secret in the familiar practice of "exoticising" the other, that ...We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with "Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee. To get started finding "Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 232

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: University of Silesia

Release: 2007

ISBN: 8322617216

Description: Most of the novels of J.M. Coetzee are founded on the same structural principle: within the bounds of the narrative an empty space is introduced, an enigma that the narrative will try to unravel but by which it will be ultimately defeated. In his earlier novels, the confrontation between the enigma and the explanatory narrative is played out within the space of the colonial discourse usually figured in the relation between a victim and a liberal representative of the colonial power abhorring the "everyday" methods of control used by the rulers. In fact, in Coetzee's writing the inability of the subjugated to express themselves becomes progressively more and more acute: while the barbarian girl does not know how to answer theMagistrate because she does not know what he wants from her (Waiting for the Barbarians), in Michael K this inability becomes somehow "naturalised" as he is hare lipped and "not clever with words" (Life and Times of Michael K), and ultimately Friday is not able to speak because of the paradigmatic (and metaphoric) colonial mutilation of the cutting out of his tongue. Within the context of the liberal novel discourse this attitude is quite familiar and can be subsumed under the Levinasian approach promulgated by the multiculturalist discourse as a novelistic version of the "respect for the other." As the victim of colonialism is disadvantaged in all respects, not only being the subject of naked violence and cultural subjugation but also having no means of expressing his predicament (lack of intellectual "tools" to "give voice" to himself), the only respectful attitude towards the victim that the liberal writer can take is to try to present the unfortunate protagonist as the unsurpassable challenge that cannot be overcome by the discourse of he novelist (ultimately the representative of colonising power). Thus the meaning of the victim remains inaccessible within such discourse, although it leaves its trace there, the trace that will always constitute a challenge. But this is not all, for within the context of such liberal attitude the irretrievable meaning of the victim does not only pose the inaccessible truth as the truth of pain of which it is impossible to speak by definition but this very impossibility seems to radiate a certain transcendence, a certain human universal, the properly existential meaning of what it is to be a human being, which can be summarised as "this fragile creature who can be hurt." In this context, after a series of "enigmatic" novels, Coetzee's Age of Iron takes an unexpected step: from its narrative the central "inaccessibility" characteristic of the earlier novels vanishes and what appears in its place is the split colonised other: on the one hand, the actual violent insurgent against apartheid, on the other, the black alcoholic derelict. What is more, these two incompatible attitudes are confronted by a proper representative of the liberal discourse complete with the sanction of the ideal of "harmonious" humanity bestowed on her by her education - a retired university lecturer on the classics. And although Age of Iron is in many respects artistically inferior to its predecessors, or perhaps because it is inferior - that is, because the crucial antagonism in it escapes to some extent being aesthetically dissimulated - the truth of the inaccessible other is put into a sharper focus: the chiasmus appears which illustrates why the other's ineffable trace is only a ruse of the colonialist discourse. In such a confrontation both the speakable and the unspeakable situate themselves on each side of the split. When the other appears in the form of the insurgent, the "humanist" discourse knows exactly what is the meaning of the message of the other (violent overthrow of power) but such message is within the liberalist discourse utterly incomprehensible (how can he sacrifice all that is "human" in him for "death-driven male constructions). When the other is incarnated by the derelict, his meaning is incomprehensible (what is his dark secret which makes him live like that?), while his message is perfectly understood: he demands pity and human heart. One should notice that only in the second case is something akin to the kernel of transcendence (amenable to be novelistically developed and amplified) hidden (the dark secret, the cause of becoming the victim), while the insurgent is taken to be utterly transparent - his motivations are all too obvious and therefore not amenable to becoming a subject of a "humanistic" novel which would treat them as simplistic propaganda lacking in "human" truth, that is, in an existential dimension. Yet, the choice encountered here is only twofold: either the truth of the black alcoholic, if it exists, has to be expressed in the language of the struggle (e.g. as dropping out of it), or his truth will become installed as a fascinating enigmatic image of the irretrievable secret in the familiar practice of "exoticising" the other, that ...We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with "Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee. To get started finding "Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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"Pere"-Versions of the Truth: The Novels of J.M. Coetzee

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