Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is the result of an immersion in the work of J.M. Coetzee. I have taken
various of Coetzee’s novels, namely Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons, Disgrace, The
Master of Petersburg, Foe, Life & Times of Michael K and Slow Man, and constructed
readings of these novels from the inside out. The overarching concern of the
dissertation is the notion of subjectivity and Coetzee’s methods of representing
subjectivity. It is my contestation that the experience of authentic subjective
awareness arises from the process of reading itself. It is not a state of being that is
described by the text, but rather a layered constellation of substitutive exchanges that
emerges from the process of textual relation. The notion of embeddedness serves as a
description of the way in which the text materializes this experience of subjectivity.
The structure of exploration in each chapter has taken as its paradigm a conceptual
concern arising from the text itself. In the first chapter (Elizabeth Costello) the
concern is with structure itself. The character of Elizabeth struggles against the
limitation inherent in the process of representation; this struggle is read as an
indication of authentic subjective experience in the face of reduction to a system of
codes. The second chapter (Disgrace) attempts to formulate the dynamic of
subjective awareness in romantic terms. I construct a reading of Lurie’s predicament
in terms that arise from his conceptual environment, in order to indicate the primacy
of textual materiality as the locus of subjective awareness. The notion of the classic
informs the third chapter (The Master of Petersburg). I use an essay by Coetzee to
delineate a conception of the classic, which is then applied as a theoretical framework
for an exploration of Dostoevsky’s pursuit of his stepson. The fourth and last chapter
(Foe, Life & Times of Michael K and Slow Man) focuses on Coetzee’s use of the body
as a figure for embedded subjectivity. It emerges that the body as a trope of
embeddedness forms an important aspect of Coetzee’s work throughout his career.
As such it is a very suitable figure for describing the dynamics of embeddedness as a
mode of representation that aligns itself with the textual materiality of subjective
being. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis het ontstaan as die gevolg van ‘n noukeurige ondersoek na die werk van
J.M. Coetzee. Ek het myself laat begelei deur die inhoud van verskeie van Coetzee se
boeke, naamlik Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons, Disgrace, The Master of
Petersburg, Foe, Life & Times of Michael K en Slow Man, om intensiewe lesings van
hierdie boeke te konstrueer. Die oorkoepelende bemoeienis van die verhandeling is
die konsep van subjektiwiteit en Coetzee se metodes van subjektiewe voorstelling.
Ek beweer dat die ervaring van outentieke subjektiewe gewaarwording gesetel is in
die leesproses. Dit is nie ‘n toestand van wese wat deur die teks beskryf word nie,
maar eerder ‘n verweefde raamwerk van substituwe wisseling wat kom uit die proses
van tekstuele relasie. Die konsep van inlywing (“embeddedness”) dien as 'n
beskrywing van die manier waarop die teks hierdie ervaring van subjektiwiteit
konkretiseer.
Die struktuur van ondersoek in elke hoofstuk neem as paradigma 'n konsepsuele
vraagstuk wat reeds gesetel is in die teks. In die eerste hoofstuk (Elizabeth Costello)
is die bemoeienis met struktuur as sodanig. Elizabeth se karakter stry teen die
inperking wat noodwending saamgaan met die proses van voorstelling; hierdie stryd
word gelees as 'n aanduiding van outentieke subjektiewe ervaring teenoor die druk
van vermindering tot 'n stel kodes. Die tweede hoofstuk (Disgrace) poog om die
dinamiek van subjektiewe bewustheid te formuleer in terme wat afkomstig is van die
romantiek. Ek konstrueer 'n lees van Lurie se toestand in terme wat kom van sy
konsepsuele omgewing, om sodoende die voorrang van tekstuele materialiteit as die
lokus van outentieke subjektiwiteit aan te dui. Die konsep van die klassieke belig die
derde hoofstuk (The Master of Petersburg). Ek gebruik 'n essay van Coetzee om 'n
begrip van die klassieke te formuleer, wat dan toegepas word as 'n teoretiese
raamwerk waarbinne Dostoevsky se soeke na sy stiefseun ondersoek word. Die
vierde en laaste hoofstuk (Foe, Life & Times of Michael K en Slow Man) fokus op
Coetzee se gebruik van die liggaam as 'n figuur vir ingelyfde subjektiwiteit. Dit blyk
dat die liggaam as 'n figuur van inlywing 'n prominente aspek van Coetzee se werk
vorm deur sy loopbaan. As sodaning is dit 'n baie handige figuur om die dinamiek van inlywing te beskryf as 'n modus van voorstelling wat sigself koppel aan die
materialiteit van die teks.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/18698 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Smuts, Merriman Eckard |
| Contributors | Klopper, Dirk, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 108 leaves |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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