1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910495969203321

Autore

Attwell David

Titolo

J. M. Coetzee : South Africa and the politics of writing / / David Attwell

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley : , : University of California Press, , 1993

ISBN

0-520-91251-9

0-585-22423-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (ix, 147 pages)

Collana

Perspectives on Southern Africa ; ; 48

Disciplina

823

Soggetti

Politics and literature - South Africa - History - 20th century

English Literature

English

Languages & Literatures

South Africa In literature

South Africa History 1961-

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Contexts: Literary, Historical, Intellectual -- 2. "The labyrinth of my history": Dusklands and In the Heart of the Country -- 3. Reading the Signs of History: Waiting for the Barbarians -- 4. Writing in "the cauldron of history": Life and Times of Michael K and Foe -- 5. Conclusion: Age of Iron -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

David Attwell defends the literary and political integrity of South African novelist J.M. Coetzee by arguing that Coetzee has absorbed the textual turn of postmodern culture while still addressing the ethical tensions of the South African crisis. As a form of "situational metafiction," Coetzee's writing reconstructs and critiques 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, it takes seriously the condition of the society in which it is produced.Attwell begins by describing the intellectual and political contexts surrounding Coetzee's fiction and then provides a developmental analysis of his six novels, drawing on Coetzee's other writings in stylistics, literary criticism, translation, political journalism and popular culture. Elegantly



written, Attwell's analysis deals with both Coetzee's subversion of the dominant culture around him and his ability to see the complexities of giving voice to the anguish of South Africa.