The self and the impossible pursuit of justice in J.M. Coetzee’s

Swanepoel, Elbie

Title: The self and the impossible pursuit of justice in J.M. Coetzee’s "Waiting for the barbarians, disgrace and foe”
Creator: Swanepoel, Elbie
Subject: Coetzee, J M, 1940- Criticism and interpretation
Subject: Coetzee, J M, 1940- Waiting for the barbarians
Subject: Coetzee, J M, 1940- Disgrace
Subject: Coetzee, J M, 1940- Foe
Subject: Ethics in literature
Subject: Deconstruction
Subject: Postmodernism (Literature)
Subject: Justice in literature
Date Issued: 2022-04-07
Date: 2022-04-07
Type: Master's thesis
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/232294
Identifier: vital:49979
Description: In its engagement with J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, Disgrace and Foe, this thesis explores how the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida can be used as a framework for understanding the self’s relationship with the other. In contrast to postcolonial readings of these texts, this thesis does not consider the separation between the self and the other in terms of social or cultural differences but rather the radical alterity of the other that is perceived in the face-to-face encounter. This study aims to illustrate how the engagement with alterity exposes the instability of the self’s structures of knowledge that, in these instances, are grounded in the Western metaphysical tradition. The effects of the self’s encounter with the other are seen in the personal transformation of Coetzee’s protagonists whose initial flaws and problematic worldviews are revealed in the context of the injustices done to the other. Furthermore, the study examines the extent to which the self is complicit in the suffering of the other and how this ultimately complicates their pursuit of justice for them. While the focus of this thesis is primarily on the characters, it also shows how the writer’s careful treatment of otherness functions to confront and engage the reader with the alterity of the other and the ethical dilemmas inherent in attempting to conceptualise it. The study concludes that the protagonists’ engagement with others and their subsequent confrontation with themselves lead them to consider what an ethical response to the other might be. This ethical turn results in positive change, however ambiguously, in their thoughts about and behaviours toward other beings.
Description: Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, English Language and Linguistics, 2022
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (102 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, English Language and Linguistics
Language: English
Rights: Swanepoel, Elbie
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

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The self and the impossible pursuit of justice in J.M. Coetzee’s "Waiting for the barbarians, disgrace and foe”