Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
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J. M. Coetzee and the Failures of Reason

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thesis
posted on 2021-11-11, 20:55 authored by Mullins, David

In a speech delivered in Stockholm in acceptance of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature, J.M. Coetzee told the story of Robinson Crusoe's life as a wealthy but haunted writer following his return to English society. Entitled "He and his Man," this brief narrative focuses on the absolute gap between the purportedly self-aware individual and the linguistic subject that stands behind the works of fiction set down on paper by this individual's hand; the imaginary figure - perhaps corresponding to Daniel Defoe himself, creator of the original Robinson Crusoe - who travels about the countryside collecting fantastical stories even as the writer sits at his desk waiting for inspiration to come. Crusoe himself lives a quiet life that for the most part involves walking the seashore and writing, and wonders what relation he, a man with an eventful but narrow past, can have to this shadow self that is the source of his stories:

History

Copyright Date

2008-01-01

Date of Award

2008-01-01

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

Author Retains Copyright

Degree Discipline

English

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Awarded Research Masters Thesis

Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies

Advisors

Meffan, James