The Urban Writing And Identity In J.M.Coetzee's Novels

The city background of J.M.Coetzee's works is real and unique,and the city is an important symbol for the different stages of Coetzee's works.Based on the urban writing and identity problems in Coetzee's novels,this thesis studies three representative works of Coetzee,"Disgrace","Youth" and " The Childhood of Jesus",analyzes the urban writing in Coetzee's novels,and tries to explore the relationship between the urban space constructed in the works,the living state of the depicted people and the identity problems.This thesis intends to explore the urban writing and identity problem in Coetzee's novels from three cities: Cape Town in South Africa,London in England and the fictional "Utopia".The research content is divided into five parts.The introduction part mainly summarizes the research status,main topics and research methods of Coetzee at home and abroad.The main body is divided into three chapters.The first chapter mainly expounds the relationship between the spiritual crisis of Lurie and his collective identity in "Disgrace",and points out that Lurie confirms the main cultural identity of the white South African under the impact of the other.The process of Lurie falling into the spiritual crisis is the process of his gradual recognition of his self-identity.The perception of power flow is the external aspect of Lurie's spiritual crisis.It also analyzes the reasons for the sense of "disgrace" on the white South Africa identity.The second chapter mainly expounds the relationship between the living predicament and mental anxiety of urban individual John,the construction of urban space and self-identity in the text,pointing out that John's national consciousness leads to his unfree and mental anxiety,which leads to the loss of his attempt to seek selfidentity in the suzerain England,and analyzes the reason of the loss of self-identity.The third chapter expounds the construction of "Utopia" and the exploration of "the other of self" identity in "The Childhood of Jesus",trying to explain that Coetzee accepted the diaspora state in the new stage of life and formed "the other of self",which prompted him to use the perspective of others to writing,at the same time,it also provided a new possibility for the individual bound by identity.The conclusion part summarizes the whole thesis,points out the problems and deficiencies in the thesis and the future direction for further research.