The Silence of the Suffering Body

J.M. Coetzee once said: The standard is the body.Whatever else, the body is not 'that which is not',and the proof that it is is the pain that it feels.[...] it is not that one grants authority to thesuffering body: the suffering body takes thisauthority: that is its power. Using this statementas a departure point this book examines how thesuffering body functions as a deconstructive tropein J.M. Coetzee's novels Waiting for the Barbariansand Age of Iron. It has been argued that it isimpossible to find a space outside discourse whereone can create a true counter-discursive narrative.However, this reading claims that the trope of thesuffering body acts as counter-discourse regardlessof these issues because its efforts rest not onlanguage, but on silence. The study makes use of adeconstructive theoretical basis and narrativeanalysis to refute previous claims both within thecritical reception of J.M. Coetzee's works andwithin the field of post-colonial studies. The studyshould be of interest to anyone who islooking for an original approach to one of the mostcomplex and critically acclaimed authors of our time.

Autorentext

Ellinor Bent Dalbye, MA in literature from the University of Oslo. She has previously worked as a university teacher and editor and is currently employed at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, the University of Oslo.

Klappentext
J.M. Coetzee once said: The standard is the body. Whatever else, the body is not 'that which is not', and the proof that it is is the pain that it feels. [...] it is not that one grants authority to the suffering body: the suffering body takes this authority: that is its power. Using this statement as a departure point this book examines how the suffering body functions as a deconstructive trope in J.M. Coetzee's novels Waiting for the Barbarians and Age of Iron. It has been argued that it is impossible to find a space outside discourse where one can create a true counter-discursive narrative. However, this reading claims that the trope of the suffering body acts as counter-discourse regardless of these issues because its efforts rest not on language, but on silence. The study makes use of a deconstructive theoretical basis and narrative analysis to refute previous claims both within the critical reception of J.M. Coetzee's works and within the field of post-colonial studies. The study should be of interest to anyone who is looking for an original approach to one of the most complex and critically acclaimed authors of our time.