Synopses & Reviews
Clarkson pays sustained attention to the dynamic interaction between Coetzees fiction and his critical writing, exploring the Nobel prize-winner's participation in, and contribution to, contemporary literary-philosophical debates. The book engages with the most recent literary and philosophical responses to Coetzees work.
Review
'Carrol Clarkson approaches the work of J.M. Coetzee in a highly original way, by combining linguistic issues with aesthetical and ethical lines of thought... Another novelty is the detailed look at names and etymologies in Coetzee's work; again, this has been addressed by others, but never in such a comprehensive and detailed manner... Altogether, Carrol Clarkson listens closely to the countervoices raised in the literary discourse of J.M. Coetzee, adding her insightful commentary to the multitude of voices. Her linguistic ANALYSIS includes references to a broad variety of linguistics and critics, namely Roman Jakobson, Ferdinand de Saussure, Emil Benveniste, ludwig Wittgenstein, Michail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida.' - Routledge ABES June 2011
'Coetzee continues to interest critics from different schools and traditions. Clarkson is the first, however, to start from Coetzee's
preoccupation with linguistics and follow the repercussions of the exigencies of linguistics in questions of an ethical and aesthetic nature. Clarkson's discussions are compelling and interesting and undoubtedly constitute a novel and important contribution to the growing field of Coetzee criticism...Clarkson's arguments are carefully organised and coherently presented. One chapter links to the next, and Clarkson frequently makes interesting and illuminating references to discussions in other places in the book. Combined with the thorough investigation of Coetzee's own theoretical references J.M. Coetzee: Countervoices emerges as a solid, interesting and apposite contribution to Coetzee criticism...In short, however, J.M. Coetzee: Countervoices presents a novel approach to Coetzee's writing and opens up new and important perspectives on one of the world's most critically challenging authors.' - Kjetil Enstad, Nordic Journal of English Studies
'Carrol Clarkson's J.M. Coetzee: Countervoices offers an erudite and very engaging discussion of J.M. Coetzee's writing' - This Year's Work in English Studies XVII
Review
"It is often remarked that J. M. Coetzee's academic interests in linguistics have influenced his fiction. Exactly how his graduate education and continuing interests in the linguistic sciences and linguistic philosophy might be manifest in his writing is a question that has never been systematically explored. This is the subject that Carrol Clarkson takes up in her monograph,
J. M. Coetzee: Countervoices. She does not disappoint: Countervoices is essential reading in the burgeoning field of Coetzee studies." - Professor David Attwell, University of York, UK
'In this highly original and thought-provoking study, Carrol Clarkson puts her expertise in linguistic theory and philosophy to excellent use. Her meticulous discussions of the nerves and sinews of Coetzee's writing undergird a subtle account of the ethical implications of his fiction, and encourage the reader to return to the novels with a new sense of their achievement.' - Professor Derek Attridge, University of York, UK
Synopsis
This book, now in paperback for the first time and with a new preface, pays sustained attention to the dynamic interaction between Coetzee's fiction and his critical writing, exploring the Nobel prize-winner's participation in, and contribution to, contemporary literary-philosophical debates. It considers the ethical and aesthetic implications of the writer's linguistic choices . What is ethically at stake in the decision to write in the third person, or in playing up the etymologies of words? In what ways do seemingly innocent linguistic decisions have ethical and aesthetic consequences for the position of the speaking or writing self in relation to those whom one addresses, or in relation to those on whose behalf one speaks, or in relation to a world one attempts to represent or create in writing? Questions such as these arise throughout Coetzee's oeuvre, especially in relation to further reflections on notions of the writer's authority and authorial commitments.
About the Author
CARROL CLARKSON has her doctorate from the University of York, UK,and teaches in the English Department at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She has published in the fields of philosophy of language, jurisprudence, and post-apartheid South African literature and art.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Not I
2. You
3. Voice
4. Voiceless
5. Names
6. Etymologies
Conclusion: We
Bibliography
Index