The Silence and Resistance of the Body: A Study of Body Politics in Coetzee’s Novels within the Postcolonial Context
Abstract
John Maxwell Coetzee is a significant contemporary English novelist, hailed as one of South Africa’s finest writers. In Coetzee’s writing, the forces of politics and history act like weather, silently shaping individual lives; this gloomy and harsh climate can easily destroy a person’s existence. The South African society depicted by Coetzee is a nightmarish realm where time is blurred, and within this realm, the body becomes the primary site where human suffering is registered. “If I look back over my ffction, I see a simple standard erected. That standard is the body.” Therefore, analyzing body writing in Coetzee’s works within a postcolonial context helps grasp the deeper characteristics of his characters and the central themes of his works, leading to a more systematic understanding of the meaning Coetzee conveys.
Keywords
J.M.Coetzee; Body Politics; Post-colonialism
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[1] J.M.Coetzee, Doubling the point: Essays and interviews.Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1992.
[2] J.M.Coetzee,Waiting For the Barbarians.New York:Penguin Books,1999.
[3] J.M.Coetzee,Disgrace.New York:Penguin Books,2000.
[4] J.M.Coetzee,Foe.New York:Penguin Books,2010.
[5] Peter Brooks,Body Work: objects of desire in modern narrative.Cambridge:Harvard University Press,1993.
[6] Frantz Fanon,Black Skin,White Masks,New York:Grove Press,1967.
[7] Michel Foucault,“Society Must Be Defended”.New York:Picador,2003.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18686/ahe.v9i2.14136
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