- Title
- “Not the story you wanted to hear": reading chick-lit in JM Coetzee’s Summertime
- Creator
- Moonsamy, Nedine
- Creator
- Spencer, Lynda G
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/138915
- Identifier
- vital:37685
- Identifier
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2017.1390878
- Description
- J.M. Coetzee’s Summertime has been widely explored – both for its controversy and merits – as engaging in “acts of genre” where the inscription of an autobiographical narrative simultaneously serves as a metatextual and ideological critique of its form. Similarly, this article is intrigued by generic instability, but our terrain lies further afield, exploring how the narrative lapses from the lofty ideals of romance to the baser “truth” of chick-lit. In Summertime, all the female characters besmirch Mr. Vincent, the biographer, for wanting to cast John Coetzee in the role of a romantic hero. Yet, their resistance results in a series of romantic failures which then situates Summertime in the generic ambit of chick-lit. In embodying a spirit that is as playful as it is critical, we suggest that Coetzee offers an opportunity to cast aside a literary critical tradition of suspicion and, in doing so, passes critical comment on how we approach a popular genre like chick-lit.
- Format
- 16 pages
- Format
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Social Dynamics
- Relation
- Moonsamy, N. and Spencer, L.G., 2017. “Not the story you wanted to hear:” reading chick-lit in JM Coetzee’s Summertime. Social Dynamics, 43(3), pp.435-450.
- Relation
- Social Dynamics volume 43 number 3 435 450 November 2017 0253-3952
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Taylor and Francis Online Open Select Journals statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/openaccess/openselect)
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Spencer, Lynda Gichanda (Dr)
RU Department of Literary Studies in English
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Not the story you wanted to hear.pdf | 650 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |