J.M. Coetzee and the Novel: Writing and Politics after Beckett (Oxford English Monographs)

'Anti-illusionism is, I suspect, only a marking of time, a phase of recuperation, in the history of the novel. The question is, what next?' (J.M. Coetzee) This book argues that the significance of Coetzee's fiction lies in the acuity with which it both explores and develops the tradition of the novel - ranging from Cervantes, Defoe and Richardson, to Dostoevsky, Kafka and Beckett - as part of a sustained attempt to rethink the relationship between writing and politics. For Coetzee questions about the future of the novel are closely related to what it means to write after Beckett, and J.M. Coetzee and the Novel pays special attention to the ways in which his fiction discerningly assimilates different aspects of literary modernism to address the questions most fundamental to the experience of late twentieth-century politics. While Coetzee is rightly known as an intensely serious writer, Patrick Hayes shows that the true seriousness of his writing is intimately bound up with comedy - or, to use the word Coetzee borrows from Joyce, the 'jocoserious'. Opening up a range of new approaches to this major contemporary author, J.M. Coetzee and the Novel argues that it is only by paying especially close attention to the experience of reading Coetzee's complex and finely-nuanced fiction that its distinctive and important impact on longstanding questions about identity, community, and the nature of political modernity can be appreciated. 'Anti-illusionism is, I suspect, only a marking of time, a phase of recuperation, in the history of the novel. The question is, what next?'(J.M. Coetzee) Patrick Hayes argues that the significance of Coetzees fiction lies in the acuity with which it both explores and develops the tradition of the novelranging from Cervantes, Defoe, and Richardson to Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Beckettas part of a sustained attempt to rethink the relationship between writing and politics. For Coetzee, questions about the future of the novel are closely related to what it means to write after Beckett, and J. M. Coetzee and the Novel examines the ways in which his fiction discerningly assimilates the techniques of literary modernism to engage with some of the most troubling aspects of late twentieth-century cultural and political life. While Coetzee is rightly known as an intensely serious writer, Hayes shows that the true seriousness of his writing is intimately bound up with comedyor, to use the word Coetzee borrows from Joyce, the jocoserious. Opening up a range of new approaches to this major contemporary author, J. M. Coetzee and the Novel argues that it is only by paying especially close attention to the experience of reading Coetzees finely-nuanced prose that his distinctive impact on longstanding questions about identity, community, and the nature of political modernity can be appreciated. This Book Argues That The Significance Of Coetzee's Complex And Finely-nuanced Fiction Lies In The Acuity With Which It Both Explores And Developes The Tradition Of The Novel - Ranging From Cervantes, Defoe, And Richardson, To Dostoevsky, Kafka, And Becket - As Part Of A Sustained Attempt To Rethink The Relationship Between Writing And Politics. Writing And Politics : Contexts And Debates -- Writing And Politics After Beckett -- Joey Rules : Telling The Truth In Life & Times Of Michael K -- An Author I Have Not Read : Foe, Crime And Punishment, And The Problem Of The Novel -- Genre And Countergenre : Age Of Iron, Pamela, And Don Quixote -- Redemption Or Deligitimization? : The Artist On Trial In The Master Of Petersburg -- Is This The Right Image Of Our Nation? : Disgrace And The Seriousness Of The Novel -- Cultural Criticism In The Australian Fiction. By Patrick Hayes. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 1. Writing and Politics: Contexts and Debates......Page 16 2. Writing and Politics After Beckett......Page 42 3. ‘JOEY RULES’: Telling the Truth in Life & Times of Michael K......Page 81 4. ‘An author I have not read’: Foe, Crime and Punishment and the Problem of the Novel......Page 115 5. Genre and Countergenre: Age of Iron, Pamela, and Don Quixote......Page 139 6. ‘Redemption’ or ‘Delegitimization’? The Artist on Trial in The Master of Petersburg......Page 174 7. ‘Is this the right image of our nation?’ Disgrace and the Seriousness of the Novel......Page 203 8. Cultural Criticism in the Australian Fiction......Page 232 Select Bibliography......Page 269 B......Page 280 D......Page 281 K......Page 282 R......Page 283 W......Page 284