Mirror Stage· Three Orders· Melaphor

John Maxwell Coetzee, a novelist, essayist, translator and professor, is the firstauthor to be awarded the Booker Prize twice: first Life&Times of Michael K in1983,and again Disgrace in1999. He is also the winner of2003Nobel Prize in Literaturefor his richest and most committed novel Disgrace, which makes him the fifth Africanand the third South African writer to be so honored. Since its publication, Disgracehas sustained uproar of debate and reinterpretation. Numerous literary critics inclineto analyze from the angles of feminism, mythology and narrative strategies but paylittle attention to Lacanian psychoanalysis. Hence, this thesis interprets Disgrace fromthe perspective of Lacanian psychoanalysis.The whole thesis consists of six parts. Chapter one presents some informationabout Coetzee and the theme of Disgrace. It makes a survey of previous criticism onDisgrace and introduces the structure of the thesis. Chapter two demonstratesPsychoanalytical Criticism and Lacanian psychoanalysis which is the theoreticalframework of this thesis. Chapter three explores the relationship between the primarycharacters and expands the relationship between the whites and the blacks in terms ofthe Mirror Stage of the Self and the Other. In post-colonial society, the originalprivileges of the whites are shifting to the blacks, primarily embodied in the rights ofproperty and sex. The whites are supposed to accept the severest punishment for theirevil deeds while the blacks can flee and do whatever they want. Thus, the circle ofhistory is profoundly manifested.Chapter four takes full advantage of Three Orders—the Imaginary Order, theSymbolic Order and the Real Order to reveal the need, demand and desire of the maincharacter Lurie. Chapter five analyzes the metaphors in Disgrace from the aspects ofcharacter, animal (dog) and plot to expose that Lurie and Lucy are the representativesof the whites while Petrus is the representative of the blacks. The dog in the novel is the object of abreaction, the referent of the rights of life and equality, the referent ofreluctant choice and death. The opera Byron in Italy composed by Lurie is actually themetaphor of Lurie in Cape Town. For the sake of evading scandal, Byron went to Italyand settled there while Lurie goes to Lucy’s smallholding. The conclusion partsummarizes the significance of the creation of the novel from both literary and realaspects.This thesis reflects the situation of South Africa after the abolition of theapartheid by revealing the conflict and harmony of the “Self” and “Other”, the changeand development of work, life and spirit of Lurie and multiple metaphors in the novel.In Post-apartheid South Africa, the morality and ethics of the whites and blacks aremisplaced. Confronted with the gradual disappearance of privilege and the refusal ofwestern civilization by new South Africa, the whites make difficult decisions and paya painful price. Additionally, this thesis uncovers the author’s pessimistic outlookconveyed by the novel—the survival of human kind and animals makes littledifference. In face of certain powerful force and custom, the struggle by individual isinvalid and ineffective and submission is the only way of life-preserving.