In The Colonial Context. Problem Of Subjectivity

On Oct.2, 2003, South African writer J.M. Coetzee was declared the winner ofNobel Prize . J.M. Coetzee (1940--) is one of the best white writers in contemporarySouth Africa. His writing style always changes and each of his books brings almostentirely different impressions to readers. So he is often classified as a postmodernistwriter. Yet on the other hand, his works still have not deviated from the context ofpost-colonialism or imperialism. He has profound contemplation on the problemsand conflicts in South African society, and with the acuity of a writer makes his ownresponse and then forms his own explanation and answer. This article wants toexplore Coetzee's works from the perspective of subjectivity and tries to show theinside meanings in his works with a variety of styles.First of all, this article begins with his autobiographical fiction Youth: Scenesfrom Provincial Lifeâ…¡ to discuss the narrative tension that centers on the crisis in theprocess of establishing his subject when he is telling the story of his own. Byanalyzing another autobiographical fiction Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life, wecan realize the reason why he has to face the crisis of subjectivity. With the help ofLacan's subjectivity theory, we can discover that it is the absence of Father thatbrings him trouble in the easy transition to the symbolic world of the adults. And thisproblem becomes the root that makes the theme of subjectivity come up time andagain in his works.After dealing with Coetzee's stories about himself, in the second part of thisarticle I want to observe his stories about others. When combined with the SouthAfrican history, we can discern from these stories, that are, Waiting for theBarbarians, The Life and Times of Michael K, Disgrace, and so on, the oppressivesystem of power/ words constructed by the myth of subjectivity in the post-colonialism context, as well as the great crisis of identity and the difficulties ofself-identification that people of all races had met when the myth of subjectivitycollapsed. In fact, the growing experiences of the absence of Father in his storiesabout himself are transformed and rewritten in a broad social context in these storiesabout others.In the last part of this article, I focus on Coetzee's writing style, and want togive my explanation of the problem why he writes in this way. I think his diversewriting styles, full of parody and irony, are just his attempt to deconstruct thepost-colonialism system of thoughts/language. Thus his innovation in writing stylesis endowed with unneglectable political meanings. In the end, I think that Coetzeecome up with a reply to the problem of subjectivity, which is to reorganize thehistory and to provide the white and the black a chance to accomplish the integrity ofidentification of subjectivity and cultural approval with a kind of equalcommunication between different subjects under the guidance of newcommunicational reason.