Discourse, Power, and the Body — A Study of Postcolonialism in the Works of J.M. Coetzee
Abstract
J.M. Coetzee, one of the most esteemed authors in the English-speaking world today, exhibited clear postcolonial tendencies in his early works. In his later writings, he gradually shifted his focus away from the South African context to explore themes such as rewriting classics, marginalized communities, and immigration. This paper, rooted in Foucault's theory of discourse-power and theories of the body, examines Coetzee's reflections and critiques of the discourse-power relationship and social disciplinary practices in his works. Furthermore, drawing from postcolonial scholars like Homi Bhabha, the paper investigates the consistent central-peripheral colonial geometric relationships in Coetzee's works and summarizes the strategies of "appropriation" and "mimicry" as means to challenge and subvert these power dynamics.
References
- Coetzee, J.M. (2010) Foe. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
- Foucault, M. (2020) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated from the French by Alan Sheridan. London: Penguin Classics.
- Coetzee, J. M. (2021) The Childhood of Jesus. London: Vintage.
- Young, R. J. C. (2004) White Mythologies Second Edition. London: Routledge.
- Ashcoft, B., Griffiths, G. and Tiffin, H. (2004) The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures Second Edition. London: Routledge.
- Coetzee, J. M. (2010) Waiting for the Barbarians. New York: Penguin Books.
- Coetzee, J. M. (2002) Stranger Shores: Literary Essays. New York: Penguin Books.
- Coetzee, J. M. (2003) Youth: Scenes from Provincial Life Ⅱ. London: Vintage Books Ltd.
- Bhabha, H. K. (1984) Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse. October, 28, 125-133.
- Bhabha, H. K. (2004) The Location of Culture. New York: Routledge Classics.
- Spivak, G. C. (1999) A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present. London: Harvard University Press.