The poetics of reciprocity in selected fictions by J. M. Coetzee

David Attwell, in the interview that prefaces "The Poetics of Reciprocity" section of Doubling the Point, identifies a recurrent concern with the function of reciprocity in the work of J. M Coetzee. 1 "The I-You relation ... connects with larger things in the whole of [Coetzee's] work, what I would like to call broadly the poetics of reciprocity." (Attwell 1992: 58) This dissertation seeks to examine the poetics of reciprocity as an aesthetic-ethical concern of Coetzee' s fiction. By establishing Coetzee's works as an extended critique of reciprocity in their thematic and structural elements, this dissertation presents a notion of reciprocity that acknowledges both an ethical imperative to engage with others and the aesthetic problems of depicting that ethical engagement in art. The aim of the dissertation is therefore to show the use of a poetics of reciprocity in raising and examining particular ethical and aesthetic issues in Coetzee' s work.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Rose, Arthur James

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Clarkson, Carrol

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8098

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8098