J.M. Coetzee
Subtitle: South Africa and the politics of writing
By: David Attwell.
Series: Perspectives on Southern Africa ;; 48
Publisher: University of California Press; David Philip
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Berkeley; Cape Town
Language: eng
Number of pages: 147
Subjects: Coetzee, J. M., 1940-  -- Criticism and interpretation.; Politics and literature -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century.; South Africa -- In literature.; South Africa -- History -- 1961-
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."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-144) and index.
A digital reproduction is available from E-Editions, a collaboration of the University of California Press and the California Digital Library's eScholarship program.