Beyond the ancient quarrel: literature, philosophy, and J.M. Coetzee

Cover......Page 1
Beyond the Ancient Quarrel: Literature, Philosophy, and J. M. Coetzee......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Acknowledgements......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
List of Contributors......Page 10
1: Ancient Quarrels, Modern Contexts: An Introduction......Page 12
PART I: UNSETTLING BOUNDARIES: PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE, AND LITERARY CRITICISM......Page 26
 2: Health and Deviance, Irony and Incarnation: Embedding and Embodying Philosophy in Literature and Theology in The Childhood of Jesus......Page 28
  THE JUST CITY......Page 29
  CHILD AND ELDER......Page 32
  BENENGELI’S CAVE......Page 39
  FILLING A GAP IN THE GOOD BOOK......Page 42
 3: Attuning Philosophy and Literary Criticism: A Response to In the Heart of the Country......Page 46
  ATTUNEMENT AND IN THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY......Page 48
  THE SPINNING OF THE SPIDER......Page 51
  BRACKETS AND WHAT THEY DIS-ENCLOSE......Page 56
  ATTUNEMENT IN REVIEW......Page 60
  COETZEE AND THEORY......Page 63
  LITERARY CRITICISM AND ITS LIMITS......Page 66
  BEYOND THE LIMITS: FOE......Page 71
  AGAINST APPLICATION......Page 81
  MUNDOPHORIA AND MUNDOPHOBIA......Page 84
   Isolation......Page 86
   Explication......Page 89
   Complication......Page 91
  THE OEUVRE ON DISPLAY......Page 95
PART II: ETHICS AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY......Page 100
  THE LOOK OF THE ANIMAL......Page 102
  CATS AND THE CONVERSION EXPERIENCE......Page 104
  THE VIEW FROM PHILOSOPHY......Page 107
  THE RISKINESS OF ETHICS......Page 111
  LITERARY FORM, ETHICS, AND THE LIMITS OF REASON......Page 114
 7: Coetzee and Eros: A Critique of Moral Philosophy......Page 118
  MORALITY AND BEING ONE AMONG OTHERS......Page 119
  THE FRAILTY OF MORAL REASONS......Page 122
  EROS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ASCENT......Page 125
  EROS AND THE REALITY OF OTHERS......Page 128
PART III: REALITY, LANGUAGE, AND SUBJECTIVITY......Page 134
  VARIETIES OF LITERARY REALISM......Page 136
  THE DRIVE TOWARDS REALITY IN DISGRACE AND WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS......Page 141
  A PHILOSOPHICAL READING OF THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS......Page 143
 9: Beyond Realism: Coetzee’s Post-Secular Imagination......Page 154
  THE ‘TEMPTATION TO REALISM’......Page 156
  RESISTING THE REAL......Page 158
  IMAGINING THE POSSIBLE......Page 163
  RADICAL HOPE......Page 169
  LIT.PHIL OR PHIL.LIT?......Page 171
  MAUTHNER’S CRITIQUE OF LANGUAGE......Page 172
  COETZEE AND LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY......Page 175
  MAUTHNERESQUE LITERARY FORAYS......Page 178
  BEYOND FLAUBERT: DISGRACE......Page 181
  LIVING READING......Page 188
 11: Coetzee and Psychoanalysis: From Paranoia to Aporia......Page 191
  LACAN’S ALLEGORIES AND PARANOIA......Page 192
  THE SUBJECT SUPPOSED NOT TO KNOW......Page 197
  TRUTH VS. FICTION: AN APORIA......Page 200
PART IV: CONTEXTS AND INSTITUTIONS......Page 208
  WISSELBARE WOORDE......Page 210
  STEVE BIKO, NADINE GORDIMER, AND J . M. COETZEE......Page 212
  ETHICS AND POLITICS OF LITERARY REPRESENTATION......Page 216
  ETHICS AND POLITICS OF ADDRESS......Page 218
  COUNTERVOICES......Page 223
  OTHER MODES OF RESISTANCE: FRANTZ FANON AND J. M. COETZEE......Page 224
  THE J. M. COETZEE ARCHIVE......Page 226
  USES OF THE ARCHIVE......Page 230
  THE ARCHIVE IN J . M. COETZEE......Page 236
 WORKS BY J. M. COETZEE......Page 244
 OTHER WORKS CITED......Page 245
Index......Page 258