Fictionality And Authenticity

John Maxwell Coetzee is the winner of2003Nobel Prize for literature. Coetzee’sautobiographical trilogy Boyhood, Youth and Summertime show readers the protagonist’s lifefrom an innocent little boy to a famous writer.Boyhood was written in1997. As the book title tells, it is mainly about a little boy’schildhood from eight to thirteen years old. The story is set in South Africa, and the wholestory is centered on the father-son and mother-son relationships. In its continuation Youth,which was written in2003, Coetzee began to use John which is the name of his own as hisprotagonist’s name. As the continuation of Boyhood, it is mainly centered on young John’slife from nineteen to twenty-four. In this book, the little boy grows up and runs away toLondon to seek his root. The book portrays a young man drowning deeply in anxiety andself-suspicion who hopes to be accepted by others in a weird way, he is thus reduced to anevader from society and an “Other” in human nature caused by unceasing self-suspicion andthe following anxiety coming from this self-suspicion. In the last book Summertime, whichwas completed in2009, Coetzee makes full use of the actual situation with subtle blur memoirstyle: the famous writer Coetzee is dead; a young British writer is to write the biography ofthe late writer, like a detective, to discover Coetzee’s ghostly middle-aged years.In this paper, the author is going to apply the principles of fictionality and authenticity ofbiography theory to analyze Coetzee’s autobiographical trilogy, combined with Coetzee’s lifeexperiences and Coetzee’s biographical writing, and his views on art and literature to showreaders the value of these three works. By close reading, this paper is to analyze Coetzee’sway to construct his self-identity in the three works. This paper is divided into six parts todiscuss the mechanism of Coetzee’s self-construction strategy in the three works, and the reasons of that form the mechanism of self-construction.The introduction part of this paper introduces the domestic and foreign researches onCoetzee’s life and works. At the same time this part also introduces the important concepts ofautobiographical novel and autobiography to help readers sort out the concepts of the two.This part also shows readers Coetzee’s concept of a biographical writing and the innovationof this paper.This thesis writing also complies with the time sequence of Coetzee’s autobiographicaltrilogy, in which, the story is told according to time. The first chapter introduces Coetzee’sfirst autobiographical trilogy Boyhood, In Boyhood, family is the main background, andreaders can see the shadow of Coetzee himself. He provides readers with a great deal ofbiographical facts. According to Zhao Baisheng, biographical fact is evidence of the mind anddefines the character. In Boyhood, the relationship between little John and his family, and hisrelationship with other students, and the little hero struggling to grow in a variety ofenvironments and his discomfort are shown to readers through the narrator little John. Andalso it tells the growing up and inner progress of little John.The second chapter describes the second book Youth. It is based on Coetzee’s ownyouthful experiences. In Youth, little John has grown up. And the setting has shifted from thefamily to South Africa and London. After all the confusions of childhood, John begins hisdream trip to London. It is mainly on describing young John as an escapist, escaping from hishome land and his lovers. And this is because of his character. It depicts a portrait of theyoung artist. By John Young, readers can trace the image of Coetzee in his youth.According to Zhao Baisheng, using the biographical way to write an autobiography canavoid the excessive self-indulgent, and meet the eternal biographical impulse. Summertime issuch a work. Biographer becomes a supporting role. John is associated with the narrators’story, but he is not always in the readers’ sight. Each narrator chooses their own ways to tell the story. Coetzee uses multi voices to tell the stories. The complex narrating strategy pushesthe mix of the fictionality and actuality writing style further. Through different storytellers,the book shows the image of the late writer John Coetzee.These three novels are closely related with each other. They can be taken as Coetzee’sautobiographical trilogy. These three books reflect Coetzee’s life, including the life of a shylittle boy who cannot get along well with his family, an ambitious young man and a universityprofessor. In these three books, Coetzee offers readers a lot of biographical facts. Yet, hesticks to the principle that autobiography is “autrebiography”(a word created by Coetzee). Healso fictionalizes these three books. By using fictionally and authentically, Coetzee hasconstructed his own identity.