The Music is Inventing Him: J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace as a Deconstruction of Apartheid Ideology

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Elvis Kosovac

Summary, in English

Previous research on J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace has focused on how the novels use of use of literary references reflect the inherent power of literary discourse. This essay aims to widen the understanding of the literary discourse employed in the novel by arguing that understanding how Coetzee portrays such discourse is central to understanding David’s ideology. I conclude that Coetzee is ultimately critical of David’s use of literary references in the context of postapartheid South Africa, focusing on the novel’s narrative voice as counteracting the power of David’s discourse through its use of ironic distancing. This essay applies the concepts of interpellation and ideology to analyse how David’s identity and actions should be understood as interpellated by his literary discourse, creating both the impetus for his actions in the novel and functioning as a response to the changing norms of post-apartheid South Africa. This essay argues that David’s discourse leads him to misrecognize reality because it affords him power yet at the same time ostracizes him from his compatriots due to his discourse’s incompatibility with modern life.

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